The Bester of Both Worlds
by Susan Hilton
Summary: Chekov, via an accident with the Guardian of Forever, switches places with Bester, who ends up on 20th century Earth, encountering Jack the Ripper,Gary Seven, Isis and Roberta Lincoln. The first in my trilogy about these characters. Please review.
1. Clare, Ralph and Sonny

The Bester of Both Worlds

Chapter One

This story is about, among other things, three unique individuals. We have met them before when they were revived from cryogenic chambers they had been placed in during the early part of the twenty-first century. Their names are Clare Raymond, a normal blond housewife; Ralph Offenhouse, a hard-driving fast living formerly wealthy businessman, and, last but not least, LQ "Sonny" Clemons (Any relation to Samuel Clemons, I wonder? Ah, but that would be a different story.)

When Pavel Chekov was young, he was involved in a top secret project, the details of which only Captain Kirk knew, but, under threat of court martial, was ordered never to divulge. Chekov kept a rather low profile in those days, which helped a great deal, considering the utmost secrecy of his clandestine operations. By the way, he had manufactured his rather silly personality when he was an ensign, which continued throughout his career, his goofiness and quirkiness causing him no small amount of embarrassment. But, because it also kept people unsuspecting about his time travel assignments, he had learned to live with it after a while.

Everyone except his immediate superiors thought that there had been no further contact with the human being recruited by aliens to protect Earth from itself in 1968, but that was not the case. Gary Seven saw Chekov's brilliance and potential early on when he was first introduced to him on the Enterprise. At the time, Chekov was trying out different jobs on the ship, having not quite found his niche, and was at that time part of Scotty's engineering staff. Back then, the young Russian had just been assigned to the Federation's flagship. He was fresh out of the academy, green as grass, but the kid had spunk.

Seven had retained Miss Roberta Lincoln as his aide, and she thought that Pavel was the "grooviest" Russian she had ever met. He also happened to be the only one, because of the Cold War. Her opinion over the years never changed, and she was greatly amused at his attempts to cover up his brilliance by acting like a moron.

Officially, Pavel was retired from active starship duty, but his association with Seven and Lincoln kept him busy and feeling young. The Guardian of Forever was involved in informing Seven and Lincoln in the latter part of the twentieth century that there were people from their era who did not wish to remain in the twenty-fourth century. And, being that the Guardian was a time portal, it offered its services in bringing two of them back to where they wanted to be. Captain Picard knew of Captain Chekov's long career with the intergalactic agents, and thought that since Pavel worked with people who lived close to Offenhouse and Raymond's era, that he would be the perfect person to bring them back to their own time. Picard knew that the three people Beverly Crusher had thawed and revived did not really belong in the twenty-fourth century, and he quite understood why the two of them wanted to return to their own. He, like Kirk, was told to keep silent about Seven and Lincoln, unless a situation like this presented itself.

Ralph Offenhouse missed the twenty-first century the most. He had tried to settle on Ferenginar, but he had a very hard time understanding how to convert dollars to credits to gold pressed latinum. The Ferengi fascinated him, and he enjoyed their culture, but he could never quite get the hang of how to deal with several different monetary systems, all competing at the same time. He missed the "good old days" of Wall Street and insider trading. Now that he was totally familiar with how the twenty-fourth century worked, he saw a lot of opportunities and incentives for returning to his own time. Of course, he had to promise to behave himself with Starfleet Temporal, and, he would for a time, until they finally decided he wasn't a threat. He would lay low for a while, and then he would make his moves in the stock market and choose key industries to make him wealthier than he had ever been in the past.

With Clare, she was shocked to learn that her husband Donald had been a prime suspect in a string of brutal murders of women before they were married. He was working for the CIA, stationed in a secret base near Kiev in 1974, and was in the city on a three-day pass. When she heard there was a way to return to the past, she desperately begged to return to exonerate her future…or past…husband. Since Chekov was a Russian, this was going to be easy for him. He was going to be with her for moral support, and to make sure the two got back to the past safely. He was also going to stay with Clare for her own protection, just in case the murderer was still at large. To him, there was something very familiar about these murders, and Chekov suspected that they were the ones the Enterprise computer said were perpetrated by the creature that had been nicknamed Jack the Ripper. He knew that the entity was not human, but Clare's husband could be possessed by it.

Sonny had adapted very well to the twenty-fourth century, and he made it quite clear that he was happy in this time period and did not wish to return. To Chekov's surprise, he told them that he had settled on Argelius II, the very planet where "Red Jack" had last made an appearance. However, it shouldn't have been a total surprise. Argelius was still a very hedonistic place, and Sonny loved to be entertained and he also loved to entertain others. He was a big hit with his old music on this planet, had many adoring fans, and was now a very wealthy man.

***

Ralph and Clare did not know quite what to make of their Russian companion from the twenty-third century. They knew that the old rivalries of competing countries were long a thing of the past, but they found it very strange that the man was so fiercely proud of his Russian heritage. He was a very nice person, but he kept mostly to himself, not talking much about Starfleet temporal or how he was recruited to usher people back or forward in time. They were standing in front of a large doughnut-shaped rock formation, quite unsure of why they were on this desolate lifeless planet. Chekov took out his communicator and told someone called Supervisor 194 that they had made it to their destination and were waiting for the time portal to activate. Supervisor 194 instructed him to ask it a question, so he asked it the obvious one.

The Guardian time portal still had its imperfections; namely, the time distortions it created because of its age. It was very ancient, but there was no one around who could even guess at how to fix it or even to maintain it. The planet itself was a closely guarded secret, but Chekov remembered it from his early days on the Enterprise as an ensign. He recalled that these distortions wreaked havoc on any ships or man-made satellites in orbit. The satellites were placed there as buoys, to instruct any unauthorized ships to stay clear of the hazards of the ripples of time displacement the Guardian produced. They were programmed to move to a higher orbit if they detected a surge in the ripples. The natural hazards of these distortions were usually enough to keep curiosity seekers from discovering the portal. There were no guards present on the planet, for Starfleet temporal did not want people to know that there was something different about this place.

"Are you the Guardian of Forever?" Chekov addressed the rock formation.

As the Guardian boomed out its answer, the two from the past started in surprise. They were not expecting to hear from a talking rock. Chekov smiled and told them to relax. Suddenly, they all felt a tremor under their feet. Offenhouse looked at Chekov curiously as Clare grabbed onto a half-buried pillar for support. The businessman asked him what was going on. Captain Chekov took out his communicator again and asked about the apparent seismic activity. Seven explained that the location where they were standing had had an increase in seismic activity lately, but that they at Starfleet temporal thought it was safe to use it, being that Seven's time transporter was currently undergoing maintenance, and this portal was the only one left that they knew about that could be used. The ground shook again. Concerned, Chekov said that they had better get started before the tremors got worse. A moment later, the ground convulsed, and the captain's communicator flew out of his grasp as he tried to keep from falling on his face. He wished he had a tricorder, but he guessed this latest shaking measured about four on the Richter scale. He went to retrieve his communicator. Clare's pillar was still buried in the ground and was a stable thing to hang on to for now. She clung to it like a child would a security blanket. Offenhouse was standing in front of the time portal, still steady on his feet. Suddenly, the ground shook much more violently. Chekov dropped the communicator again as Clare screamed in fright as the Guardian toppled over,knocking her and Captain Chekov out as they all vanished within it.


	2. Chekov and Bester Switch Places

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 2

Londo Molari stalked out of his quarters, pissed off about another one of G'Kar's misdeeds. G'Kar had taken up a strange new Earth hobby recently; something called practical jokes. He had sneaked into his quarters the previous evening when he was out on a diplomatic mission, short sheeted his bed and had put itching powder in it. He had developed an intolerable rash in an unmentionable place and was very grouchy this morning. To add insult to injury, he didn't notice the unconscious human woman lying just outside his door until he tripped over her. The fall didn't hurt anything but his pride. He looked back at her and knelt for a pulse, immediately forgetting about his own little problem. Relieved at feeling a pulse, he thought the woman was very pretty for a human. Concerned for her, even though he didn't have a clue as to who she was or how she happened to be there, and fearing that someone had attacked her and taken her purse or something, he dragged her into his quarters, placed her on his couch, removed his cape from his shoulders, draped it over her, and used his com link.

"Great Maker!" He whispered to himself. "That poor woman. This space station is a rat trap. It should have better security than this." He waited while the face of Captain John Sheridan, the relatively new space station head, replacing Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, appeared on his screen.

"What can I do for you, Ambassador?" The station commander asked, noticing the worried expression on the Centauri's face.

"Captain, I just discovered some poor human woman unconscious just outside my quarters. Where is Garibaldi when we need him, anyway?"

The security chief had sufficiently recovered from a PPG blast that almost ended his life, and had been put on light duty until he had fully recovered.

"He's busy with another new development, Londo. It seems that one of Mr. Bester's aids discovered him out cold on the floor of his quarters as well. Someone had dressed him in some sort of strange uniform or costume, with an insignia on his chest we aren't familiar with."

"Sounds like something G'Kar would do. Who is this woman I found, anyway?"

"I don't know, Molari, but I'm sure G'Kar wouldn't knock two people out for no good reason, and he wouldn't dare try anything with Bester. He could kill him with a thought. I will contact Dr. Franklin about your mystery woman. He should be there shortly. In the meantime, don't move her unless you have to. She might have injuries you can't see."

"I already moved her to my settee, Commander." Londo said helplessly.

"Well don't move her again."

***

When Captain Chekov regained consciousness, he focused his eyes on a rather drab gray metal ceiling. He heard voices around him, and soon realized that he was in some sort of sickbay. Attempting to sit up, he felt a firm hand that forced him back down. There was no need for such force, for he also felt very dizzy and disoriented. He heard some strange comments, and wasn't sure if they were spoken by those around him or if he was dreaming them. They were calling him a jackass and an asshole, and were also saying that whoever hit him should have finished the job they started. He heard another male voice say that if he wasn't a doctor, he would have. It was all very confusing. It was hard at first to get his equilibrium. He frowned, wondering if they were going to let him sit up or if he would have to lie there indefinitely. He then thought of his two companions. His head was propped up on a rather thick pillow, and he found he could turn it to look on either side of him. He saw Clare, who appeared to be still unconscious to his left. There was no sign of Ralph Offenhouse, and Chekov feared the worst. Ralph must have been killed when the Guardian fell over.

"I'm getting too old for this shit." Chekov sighed softly to himself, holding his aching head.

Sighing again, he tried to sit up once more. This time, no one stopped him. The doctor who had pushed him down was in another part of the room, talking softly to a rather tall fellow named Garibaldi. Chekov found it strange that he heard the name from this distance. His head was still pounding as he swung his legs to the floor, grabbed the edge of the bed he had been lying on for support, and slowly moved towards Clare, hoping to awaken her.

"Mr. Bester, get back to bed!" The young doctor barked. "You and the lady have sustained severe concussions, and I will not have my patients wandering around the med lab like they own the place. I don't care if you're a psi cop or not!"

Chekov peered at him curiously. What did he call him? Bester? He also wondered what a 'psi cop' was. However, in order not to appear to be the jerk they obviously thought he was, he complied.

***

For a few moments, Ralph had the unsettling feeling of falling and not being able to get his bearings. Soon, however, he found himself on a cold wet snowy street. He involuntarily fell backwards on his backside onto the unyielding pavement and realized a few minutes later that he really should get out of the way of oncoming traffic. He stood and brushed himself off. He saw a nearby traffic signal, and sat down on a bench near a lonely bus stop. There was a trash can on one side of the bench, and he soon saw a newspaper. He was disappointed when he quickly found that it was printed in Russian. He noted the date on it, however. It was February 22, 1974, a Friday. Now he had an idea of where and when he was, but had no idea what to do next. He could tell that he was in a downtown area, so decided it was best to go to a store to get out of the cold. He wasn't dressed for cold weather, even though he had on a jacket for his visit to that planet he had been on moments before. He wondered what had happened to Clare and Chekov. Not a bad fellow, he hoped that they were all right, wherever they were.

***

The only things making sounds on the Guardian planet now were Chekov's dropped communicator and aftershocks from the earthquake. The Guardian was now a pile of smoldering debris, as dead as the world it had been on. The aftershocks shook the remaining foundations of the time portal and loosened large heavy rocks from nearby hills. One crashed into the small device, rendering it inoperative.


	3. On The Trail of Jack The Ripper

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 3

Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln knew what had occurred on the Guardian planet. Starfleet Temporal had kept track of at least one person's whereabouts when the time portal was destroyed, and had conveyed the information to them. Seven and Lincoln had completed the maintenance on their own time transporter, and knew that Ralph Offenhouse had been transported to the twentieth century. What they did not know for now was where Chekov and Raymond had gone. It was good that they had a starting point for the search for the trio. Starfleet temporal had informed them of what Offenhouse was planning to do, and Roberta Lincoln was assigned to go to the year 1974 to find him in the Russian city of Kiev, and return him to Seven's apartment and hold him there until they could find their operative from the twenty-third century and Clare Raymond. She had been given information about Russian culture and language and was a quick study, learning a few necessary phrases in their language to make the assignment easier. The matter about Donald Raymond being possessed by the entity nicknamed Jack the Ripper had been put on hold for the time being. Being that it was a fact that Ralph Offenhouse was mainly a selfish entrepreneur, who really didn't care about Clare's husband being accused of murder; he would probably be no help in exonerating him. Miss Lincoln was told to not do anything about Mr. Raymond, being it would change the time line if he was really the one possessed by the entity. Roberta also had been ordered to make a brief stop on the Guardian planet to retrieve Chekov's communicator, lest it fall into the wrong hands.

Roberta had never been to the Soviet Union, and she knew how some of the Russians felt about Americans from her era. 1974 was only six years into her future, but she was excited about her first time travel excursion. She had wanted this assignment anyway, because of her friendship with Mr. Chekov. She suspected that that was the primary reason why she was chosen for this assignment. Seven knew that she was fascinated by the twenty-third century, but because of security concerns, had not learned very much about the future yet. She was also just beginning as a new intergalactic agent. The covert organization that she and Seven were a part of was a precursor to the infamous Men in Black. Seven wanted to start her out on her own planet before giving her any experiences on others, with the small exception of the Guardian planet. She also wondered what had become of Chekov and his traveling companion, Clare Raymond. She thought it was a tall order to find Offenhouse, being that Kiev was a large city and the fact she had never set foot on European soil in her life. However, she knew that Seven had a lot of confidence in her, and she didn't want to let him down.

***

Alfred Bester, to his surprise, awoke to find himself in an old fashioned jail cell. He found he had one hell of a hangover. The night before he had reluctantly attended one of Molari's hedonistic parties and had consumed a little too much Centauri wine. Molari had insisted that he attend the celebration of the eradication of the Xon this year, and the Centauri wouldn't take no for an answer. Now he knew that he was no longer on the Babylon Five station, but was somewhere else. Where, he did not know yet. He soon found that he was not alone. His cellmate had his back turned to him, and was obviously asleep. He was dressed in a twentieth century-style black business suit, with a white shirt and a thin black tie. Bester could hear him snoring softly and he occasionally talked in his sleep. In his usual manner, he started to probe the man's thoughts and was horrified when nothing happened. Somehow, he had lost his most precious gift of mental telepathy, and was now a lowly human normal. He wondered how he had lost his gift and why he was in jail and not in his quarters, where he had passed out the night before. He also wondered what normal humans did without telepathy. He had always been a telepath, and could not imagine going through life without this special ability. The man stirred and turned to look in his direction. He smiled amiably.

"Oh, hi, cellmate. My name is Donald Raymond. What's yours?"

"Alfred Bester. Why am I in this cell?" He asked, holding his aching head.

"They found you in downtown Kiev, drunk as a skunk. Judging from that getup you have on, it must have been one hell of a party. They placed you here to get sober. I'm here because they are accusing me of murder most foul. They also think I'm a spy."

Bester smiled in amusement, wincing because the man named Raymond was talking too loud.

"You? A murderer? I find that very unlikely."

"Thanks, but how do you know I'm not?"

"Intuition. You don't strike me as the kind of man who would kill anyone."

"They say I killed four women. I don't remember doing it. However, you should know, Mr. Bester, that homicidal maniacs look just like everyone else and come in many forms."

***

Talia Winters decided to accompany Londo to the med lab, having heard about the strange incident with Bester. He had confided to her the little problem he had, and she sincerely hoped Dr. Franklin could help him with his rash. He also wanted to check on the attractive woman he had tripped over that morning. As they entered the med lab, Talia felt the consternation Chekov felt at being mistaken for Bester. She could tell just by looking and by the way the man talked with a Russian accent that he wasn't the psi cop. He appeared to be very frustrated that Garibaldi didn't believe him even with the very authentic-sounding accent. He probably didn't believe him because Bester's double seemed to have his telepathic ability. The poor double was being grilled like a fish, and seemed very worried about the mystery woman Londo discovered. She was still unconscious in the bed beside Bester's doppelganger. Doctor Franklin told Londo not to worry, but the woman Bester's double called Clare Raymond would be out for a while yet. According to the Bester look alike, she was the victim of an earthquake on some planet with a time portal. The portal had collapsed and had nearly crushed her. Dr. Franklin had started to consider that he was telling the truth, being that her injuries were consistent with his story.

"Mr. Garibaldi" The pretty young blonde psi cop requested. "please stop your inane questioning of this man. I don't think he's Bester at all." She gazed at the man with a little compassion. He seemed a little frightened and unsure of himself, which gave her another clue that he was not who he appeared to be. He also was not wearing his black gloves, something no psi cop did without, including herself. She often wondered why they had to wear gloves, the reason never fully explained to her satisfaction. "What is your name, sir?"

He straightened and looked back at her hopefully.

"My name is Captain Pavel A. Chekov. I am a newly retired starship captain, formerly of the USS Lexington II. The woman is named Clare Raymond. I have been telling this security officer for an hour who I am, but he will not believe me."

"Mr. Garibaldi, this is obviously not Alfred Bester. Captain, where did you come from and why are you impersonating Mr. Bester?"

The man named Chekov sighed deeply.

"I don't even know who that is." His ungloved hands were at his temples. Dr. Franklin approached his side and gave him a shot to ease his pain. He thanked him and continued. "By the way, what is this place and who are you people?"

"You are on the Babylon Five space station, Captain Chekov." She saw that Garibaldi still had his doubts. "Michael, I suggest that you get Ivanova down here to confirm this man's identity. If he's truly a Russian double, she would be able to tell by speaking Russian to him. She can explain who and what we are in that language."

Chekov smiled. Now they were getting somewhere.


	4. 1974 Kiev

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 4

Captain Pavel Chekov felt it quite ironic that in all his years in Starfleet he had to do without any special abilities like the majority of his fellow humans, but now, in the twilight of his years in Starfleet, he was suddenly given the gift of telepathy. He had often wondered what it would be like to be able to read minds like Miranda Jones. Mental telepathy would have come in handy on many occasions, such as the time his former captain was ordered into the Romulan neutral zone to swipe the cloaking device or when Spock forgot to put his visor on when the Medusan ambassador was linking up with the first officer's mind. Now he realized that there were some disadvantages with the gift as well as advantages. Whoever this Bester person was, it was obvious that he wasn't liked, to put it mildly. Through his many years as a Starfleet officer, he often thought how incredible it was that humanity had made it into space; more so in this reality. Most of the other races the Enterprise crew had encountered had some sort of advantage over humankind. As he waited for Clare to regain consciousness, having learned from their doctor Franklin that she had also sustained a hairline skull fracture, he was learning from the woman named Talia Winters that this universe had more human telepaths than in his own, and that psi cops were deemed necessary to control and manage their activities. Pavel thought that that was akin to slavery, being that once the psi cops found out that someone had telepathic ability, they were forced to join the psi corps or go to jail or take strong harmful drugs to curtail their natural abilities for the rest of their lives. He didn't like that one little bit. There was one somewhat amusing aspect to this. Spock would only rate a "P-5" on their esper scale. He learned that Bester and people like him were rated much higher. Talia asked him who Spock was and he explained that he was once one of his commanding officers and that he was not human. Chekov found out that non-humans were exempt from the Earth laws for telepathy. In a way, he was glad about that, but he also found it a little strange.

Londo had been given some ointment for his rash. Curious about the alien Chekov mentioned, he inquired as to what they looked like and what they were called. When the captain explained that they were extremely intelligent, had pointed ears and upswept eyebrows and green blood, he was astonished. Chekov had just described the race that his species had wiped out on their planet. Chekov still had a shocked look on his face when Commander Ivanova stepped into the room.

When Susan Ivanova first heard of the man who looked like Bester but wasn't, she thought that Garibaldi was playing some sort of unfunny joke on her at her expense. She was still wary as she walked into the med lab; not looking forward to meeting the man who looked like the one who, to her, represented all that was unsavory and evil in this universe. She could tell almost immediately that this person who called himself Captain Chekov was not the monster that she knew. She saw that he was picking up on her trepidation when it came to meeting him. He spoke Russian to her in her mind, putting an end to her speculation that this was a joke. She knew that Bester did not speak the language.

***

Roberta materialized on the dead world, relieved that the aftershocks from the earthquake had subsided. The planet had a slightly stronger gravity than Earth, and, at first, she found it was hard to walk around. It felt as if she was wading through thick mud. She looked around, realizing that it might be a long time before she was given another assignment on another planet. In all her young years, she never dreamed that she would actually be on an alien world. The Guardian had stopped smoldering and there were alien ruins from a long dead civilization that could be seen as far as the eye could see. After turning over a few fallen rocks, she located the dropped and damaged communicator. Picking it up carefully, she spoke into her own wrist communications device and dematerialized. She reappeared in Seven's apartment/headquarters and he adjusted the controls for the year 1974, took the small device from her hand, and wished her luck at locating Offenhouse. He smiled and told her that he found that the seventies sucked like an Electrolux, and were not nearly as fun as the sixties. She marveled at the period costume he had replicated for her. She was wearing a pink pantsuit with a white shirt with wide pointed collars that extended to her shoulders. The pants were bell bottoms. Her head was adorned with a lovely Gypsy-like scarf. She was also given a suede overcoat with faux sheepskin lining and a pair of gloves to match, being that she would be materializing in cold weather in the month of February. She closed her eyes as she was ushered into the safe-like enclosure with the time transporter, not wanting to see the blue swirling mist that was transporting her into the next decade.

***

When it was discovered that Alfred Bester had sobered up, he was released from jail. He did not know what he should do next, being that he was totally unfamiliar with his surroundings. Before he left the jail, he saw a calendar hanging on the wall. He was not too surprised to find that he was in the twentieth century. However, he wondered how he could have been transported to this time period. Suddenly, he saw a young woman approach him as quickly as the icy streets of downtown Kiev would allow.

"Captain Chekov, boy am I glad to see you! How did you get here? I thought that your transportation was destroyed!"

Bester frowned, not having the slightest idea who she was and why she was addressing him by a different name. He suddenly wished he had his telepathic abilities back, but wishing was not going to make it so. He saw that she was looking him over with curiosity at the strange black uniform he was still wearing.

"Young lady, I haven't a clue as to who you are, and my name isn't Chekov. I'm Alfred Bester."

Rather nonplussed, Roberta apologized and left him standing there, suddenly feeling just a little bit frightened. There was something not quite right about the way he was looking at her, so she decided it was best to get as far away from him as possible. She considered that everyone probably had a double in this world, and she had just met Chekov's evil twin. She did not know how right she was.


	5. Clare Regains Consciousness

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 5

Captain Chekov was advised by Garibaldi and Doctor Franklin to stay where he was for now. He agreed, being that he still was quite dizzy and in pain from his head injury. He needed some time to recover, and also wanted to be with Clare when she finally regained consciousness. The captain also knew that the security chief was thinking about his safety, being that he looked exactly like his louse of a counterpart. There were, no doubt, people on this space station who would like to do Bester harm. The security chief told him that he would give him a guided tour of the station when his lady friend recovered, and that he would make sure that no harm came to either of them.

There was a soft groan behind him, and Pavel realized that it came from Clare. She had a bandage on her forehead for a deep cut that the doctor had mended the best he could. He had been informed that this was the twenty-third century, but medicine seemed more primitive here, wherever this was. Miss Winters told him that the Babylon Five space station was about eighteen light years from Earth, and that supplies and technology were limited. They had to make do with what they had. He had wanted to consult some star maps to find out their exact location and Ivanova said that she would be glad to get some for him, but now was not the time. He considered that this might be the same universe that his former captain had happened upon, but most of the people he had encountered so far were not very violent, just very inquisitive. Chekov got to his feet slowly, Doctor Franklin drawing close to his side in case he lost his balance, but he used the bed again for support. He made it to Clare's bedside with the doctor's help.

Londo decided to accompany him, and Chekov was a little concerned that Clare might be startled at his appearance, being that she had not had too much experience with extraterrestrials. Garibaldi sensed his concern, and Chekov told him in his mind that she might be frightened and he relayed the information to Londo. The captain found that he was getting accustomed to telepathy and was beginning to enjoy it. However, he knew that it would probably come to an end if he and Bester switched back. The alien named Londo quite understood and went out of her line of vision for now. Chekov had been told by Picard of the future Enterprise-D that her first encounter with a Klingon was a frightening one for her, and he quite understood why. He marveled at the fact that the Organians had been correct in their prediction that the Klingons would some day be friends with humans and actually work with them. He had hoped he wouldn't see the day when one of those animals made his way on board a Federation starship. Talia picked up on this thought, and wondered what Organians and Klingons were, but decided not to ask. They didn't exist here, so it really didn't matter.

It wasn't long until Clare opened her eyes. Her first sight was Captain Chekov bending over her, clutching on the edge of her bed to steady himself. He had a large purple bruise on his right temple, from when the Guardian toppled over. The way he looked at her made her realize that her head injury was probably more serious. She was then conscious of her own throbbing pain and groaned again.

"Welcome back, Clare. When you're better, I would like you to meet our new friends." He stood aside, almost falling over from another dizzy spell. He read in Clare's mind that she felt as if a bowling ball had just clunked her over the head. He smiled a little, feeling the same way. Dr. Franklin quickly came to his side, noticing that he was just about to fall again, and kept him from doing so. He ordered him back to bed. Chekov thanked him for his assist, and complied. Garibaldi excused himself and asked him to let him know when he and Clare were ready for their guided tour.

Roberta Lincoln used her wrist communicator and contacted Supervisor 194, telling him about the strange encounter with Chekov's double. He asked her what he had been wearing, which was a little strange to her. She told him that he was dressed all in black, with matching gloves on his hands, and that he gave her the creeps. She could detect a startled reaction from Seven, and he warned her in a worried tone to stay away from him, saying that he was from another universe. He now knew where Chekov and Raymond had gone, and it would be very difficult to get them back, considering he had not been to that particular reality in quite some time. He knew of all of the intersecting realities from the one he inhabited, but because of the perceived dangers, he did not consider it wise to visit them. He knew little about that other universe, and did not want to take any chances.

Before her mission, Roberta wondered how she, a petite young woman, could capture Ralph Offenhouse before he had the chance to do anything to take unscrupulous advantage of his knowledge of the future. Seven reminded her about the servo device, and she was issued one and instructed in its use. He also told her that she didn't have to rely on her little crash coarse in the Russian language and that the servo had a built-in translator. All she had to do was speak English, and the people on the receiving end would hear Russian. She now reached into her coat pocket and fingered it, getting some comfort that it was there. Seven informed her that she might be called upon to enter that other universe and retrieve Chekov and Raymond as well, and if she was, it would be her next dangerous assignment. She thought that this one was dangerous enough, and was not looking forward to the next. Stopping Offenhouse wasn't the only issue here. There was also the matter of the Jack the Ripper entity. She wondered if this Bester person was going to be possessed by it. She decided not to dwell on it for now, reaching into another coat pocket, where Seven had given her some Russian currency. She would probably have to stay overnight in Kiev, and needed to find a place to stay. She still did not have a clue as to where Offenhouse was. Seven had her materialize in his last known location, after the defunct Guardian had placed him in downtown Kiev. She paced on the sidewalk for a time near the bench where Offenhouse once stood and then thought that that was counterproductive. She, like Offenhouse, decided to get out of the cold and soon saw a large building that could only be a hotel. It looked a little run-down and shabby, but she didn't know how much money Seven had given her. The sun was beginning to set and she noticed that there were some hookers on the street corner next to the building, and recalled Jack the Ripper's M.O. She shuddered, partly from the cold but mostly for what fate might await for one of them if the entity struck again.


	6. Isis Bests Bester

The Bester of Both Worlds, Chapter 6

Bester wandered the streets of Kiev for a while, still very frustrated at not having his telepathic ability. He was beginning to hate the twentieth century, finding it quite primitive. It was impossible to go on without money, and he was at a total loss as to what to do next. It was then that he saw the raven-haired beauty standing in front of a run-down hotel. She was very feline in appearance, dressed in a black mink coat, with a diamond-studded necklace adorning her lovely neck. Bester found himself strangely drawn to her, and thought that her appearance was quite incongruous to their surroundings. He found that she spoke English, and she offered him a chance to get out of the cold, and he accepted, feeling he had little choice. He let his guard down as he sometimes did with beautiful women as they entered the building, his back to her. He felt a small jolt from behind, at once annoyed with himself for falling for her feminine wiles and that was the last thing he remembered.

Gary Seven had sent Isis in human form to find and detain Bester at his apartment headquarters in the United States, realizing that Chekov's double was the only link to where Chekov and Raymond had gone, now that the Guardian was no more. Chekov and he must have switched places at the exact moment it fell. Isis had been his assistant for many years. She was a shape shifter, from the same planet he had been trained on as an agent. Now the only thing Roberta had to do was find Offenhouse and try to stay out of harms way of the Ripper entity. Isis had informed Seven that she sensed that the former businessman was near the seedy hotel. Roberta had kept in contact with Supervisor 194 via her wrist communicator, so he knew that she had rented a room there. He told her that she had enough Russian rubles for a better place than the one she chose. He was a little surprised that she had chosen such a dive, being that she did have some class, but she also reminded him that if the Ripper entity and Offenhouse were anywhere, they would most likely be here. Offenhouse, they knew, had no money with him, and it was quite easy to sneak into this place. Being that Roberta was a fairly honest young woman, she paid for her room. Seven had thought of the possibility that the Ripper entity might try and take over Offenhouse, but there was a good chance that Roberta might find him and stun him with her servo first. He hoped that she wouldn't be killed, knowing that the entity had changed its M.O. over the centuries, preying on not just prostitutes. He knew the non-corporeal life form fed on fear, and Roberta could be quite emotional at times. He considered this assignment he had given her might be too much for her to handle, but figured that she had to start somewhere. In order to get experience as an agent she would have to have it. That still didn't stop him from worrying about her, however. He had grown quite fond of her since they met the people from the starship Enterprise.

Roberta hoped that the translator built into the servo worked both ways as she made her way into the hotel lobby. She thought that if it didn't, she would be in big trouble, considering that she was a foreigner without proper papers, having only heard a few Russian words in her lifetime. She also wondered if she would look strange as the translator device worked, for her mouth would not be in sync with the language. She took off her gloves and put a hand in her pocket again, this time feeling a wallet along with the servo. She could have sworn it had not been there a moment ago. Curiously, she withdrew the wallet and her eyes widened when she saw that Seven had manufactured a fake name for her. Her real name would no doubt garner suspicion. He had made her a KGB operative, and her fake name was Natasha Petrova. That was a nice Russian-sounding name, she thought. She wondered where he got it, but there was no time to waste. She put the billfold back in her coat pocket, marveling at Seven's forethought.

She looked around, scanning her surroundings. The place was a dump, but she felt very strongly that Offenhouse was nearby. Seven had informed her of Bester's abduction by Isis, and the twenty-third century psi cop from another universe was now safely ensconced, still unconscious from a servo stun, in a holding cell with a force field in a hidden room in his apartment headquarters in the year 1968. That was one less thing to worry about. At least the Ripper entity would not be possessing him. The hotel wallpaper was peeling, faded and soiled; an ugly pukey green color. The floors were hard wood, but old and scuffed. The floor boards creaked as she walked on them. A fraying carpet runner led to the front desk, also a sickly green. The desk clerk was dark and oily, and gave her a lustful leer as she made her way to where he was standing. She was a little relieved that she could understand him as he greeted her, but she was uncomfortable by the way he was undressing her with his eyes.

"What's a pretty young thing like you doing in a place like this?" He asked wolfishly.

"I…uh…would like a room for the night." She dug into her coat pocket for the wallet and gave it to him. "I am searching for an American fugitive that is wanted by the F—I mean the KGB." She could have kicked herself for almost forgetting where she was. To her relief, the sleazy desk clerk didn't seem to notice that her mouth was probably not in sync with the translation. The man shrugged and handed her fake ID back to her.

"Aren't you a little young to be KGB?" He asked curiously.

She thought quickly.

"Aren't you a little nosey to be a hotel desk clerk?" She retorted, trying to sound annoyed. "I'm older than I look. They recruited me so the fugitive would not suspect that I was following him." She opened the wallet again, and to her surprise, there was a wallet-sized picture of Ralph Offenhouse. This time, she knew for certain that it had not been there a moment before. Trying not to show her astonishment at this strange new development, she withdrew the picture and handed it to him. "Have you seen this man?"

***

Clare awoke again from a dreamless but refreshing sleep, this time feeling a little better, but woozy. She was a little startled to discover that she was unable to sit up because of some sort of wild-looking contraption over her midsection. It had a series of long lights that repeatedly went from her chest to her abdomen. They resembled flourescent lights, but they did not flicker like them. At first, she thought that she had been abducted by aliens, but then remembered that their benefactors were mostly human. The doctor, seeing her puzzled expression, stepped over to her bedside and told her that the device was to facilitate her healing process and to monitor her vital signs. Captain Chekov was to her right in the next bed, taking the doctor's advice that he should get some rest for his head injury as well. He had fallen asleep, unable to for a long time because he was worried about her. Finally, sleeplessness took its toll, and he had drifted off around midnight, station time. Franklin gave him a mild sedative so he would get a full night's rest. Clare found out that they had been in this "med lab" for three days, and that she had been unconscious for two and a half days. She liked this young black doctor very much. He asked her if she felt well enough to meet someone named Londo Molari, who had been the one who discovered her outside of his quarters that fateful morning. He had the common decency to tell her that he was an extraterrestrial, so she wouldn't be surprised at his appearance. He told her that he looked more or less human, except for his hairdo. Her curiosity piqued, she agreed to meet him.

She watched as he spoke into a device on the back of his hand, calling him Ambassador, and saying that she was recovered enough to meet him at last. She heard a man's voice on the other end of the communications device, telling them that he would be there in a few minutes.

As the ambassador entered the med lab, he was happy to see that the swelling from her injury had gone down. She was still wearing a bandage, but she looked much better. He bowed politely.

"Lady Clare, it is a great relief to see you awake and recovering." He said with a toothy smile. She noticed his rather large incisors, and wondered if he was a vampire. She also wondered if he had stuck his finger in a light socket. She did not voice those questions, though, not wanting to offend. She also wondered at his salutation, not being of nobility, but smiled at him. She noticed that Captain Chekov had an amused look on his slumbering countenance.


	7. Jack The Ripper Attacks Roberta

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 7

Alfred Bester came to his senses a while later and found himself lying on a metal folding cot, with a plain white mattress. He was in some sort of holding cell. He sat up and looked around the cell curiously, in a vain attempt to figure out just where the hell he was. He heard a very soft hum of a force field at an entrance. Wherever this was, they were obviously using twenty-third century technology to keep him caged up. He heard a virtually undetectable panel open in the featureless white wall above the cot, revealing a viewing screen, nearly identical to the com link in his quarters on Babylon Five. He found it was agreeably warm in this place, and his hands were starting to sweat. He was tempted to take off his gloves, but he was too well indoctrinated in Psi Corps policy. He was more than a little upset that he had been tricked and abducted, but, in a way, he also felt grateful to get out of the icy cold of a Russian winter. He watched the viewing screen change from a bright blue color to that of a man's face. The man looked at him with interest, trying to determine, no doubt, just how pissed he was. He spoke in a soft, gentle voice, which did nothing to calm Bester's irritation. He glared at him as he spoke and stroked an unusually lovely black cat. It meowed, and he spoke to it, calling it Isis and saying he knew she wanted to be let down and telling her that she did a good job at abducting their "guest". He looked back up at the Psi cop.

"Greetings, Mr. Bester. I apologize for sending my shape shifter associate to abduct you, but we did it for your own safety. There is a dangerous non-corporeal entity on the loose in the year 1974, and we didn't want you to be harmed by it."

"Where am I and who are you?" Bester asked unhappily.

"You are in an undisclosed location in the United States in the year 1968 in another reality from your own on your space station. You have apparently switched places with your identical counterpart from this universe. His name is Chekov, and he is from our twenty-third century." Bester started at the name and remembered that it was the same one the young girl on the street used. The man continued. "I am Supervisor 194, code-named Gary Seven. I am an intergalactic secret agent, here on this planet to prevent the Earth from destroying itself before it has the chance to develop peacefully. Our organization will someday be known as the Men in Black. We would like you to be as comfortable as possible. Since we know too little about your universe, we must use security precautions. I hope you understand. We will let you go if you prove you are not a threat to that security. Are you hungry?"

Bester blinked in surprise at that question, and realized it had been a while since he had anything to eat. Then, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Don't tell me. Let me guess. You are really an alien and you are going to fatten me up and eat me."

The man named Seven chuckled.

"This isn't a Twilight Zone episode, Mr. Bester. I'm not a Kanamed. Turn around and observe. Just tell it what you would like and it will replicate it for you."

Bester heard another soft hum from behind and did as he was told. A food dispenser unlike any he had ever seen seamlessly appeared, along with a flat surface where he could place his food. He stared at it in astonishment for a moment, then shrugged and ordered chicken soup. It looked like he was going to be here for a while.

***

The slatternly desk clerk had not seen Ralph Offenhouse, but Roberta was undeterred. It was late afternoon when she settled in to her equally shabby accommodations. She locked the door, of course. Feeling a little more secure, but still on edge, she sat on the edge of the sagging bed, nearly falling backwards when it sank with her weight. It was a foregone conclusion that she wouldn't get any sleep that night. There was an old black and white television set on a pedestal and chained to the wall. She did not want to watch it, for she felt she needed to have her wits about her. Hearing noises through the paper thin walls, she realized that she might have made a mistake in choosing this hotel. The people next door sounded like they were having rough sex. Suddenly, she heard a blood curdling scream and squishing sounds, as if someone was being stabbed repeatedly. She froze in terror and they ceased. She could smell the strong odor of fresh human blood, and she was still frozen with fright. She heard a body fall to the floor, and then another. She got up from the bed and fumbled for her servo, tempted to set it to kill, and then thought again. Her mission was to find Offenhouse and stay alive, not to do any killing. There had been enough of that with the Ripper entity. She set it on heavy stun and aimed it at the locked door when she realized that someone was trying to gain entrance to her room with a key.

Her eyes were as wide as saucers as the desk clerk stepped in, a long bloody knife, probably from the hotel kitchen, dripping in his equally bloody hand.

"Hello, Roberta Lincoln." The man said with a creepy leer. She hadn't told him her real name, and she gasped in sheer terror. "I am going to rape you and then I'm going to kill you, like I did with the whore in the next room."

"You're Jack the Ripper!" She gasped in horror. She then realized that the latest victim was victim number five, recalling that Seven had told her that the entity had killed five women in this time period. She hoped that he was right, and that she didn't become victim number six. She aimed her servo at him, her hands shaking, but he just smiled and nodded in the affirmative. "Don't come any closer. I will stun you!"

"Your puny little ray gun is no match for me, girlie." He tried to grab it out of her hands, but she pressed the trigger. He fell to the floor, still conscious but unable to move. She swiftly went for her wrist communicator on the night stand. She screamed in utter panic, unable to reach it in time as she felt the possessed man recover and grab her. She struggled for a moment or two, then suddenly, she felt her fear being drained out of her, along with all her other emotions. She fell in a dead faint, dropping her servo, which slid under the nightstand.

Ralph Offenhouse came to his senses and gasped in dismay as he saw the mangled remains of the hooker he had seen alive moments before. He heard another scream of sheer terror. He knew what he must do now. He had in his possession a Swiss Army knife, that he had acquired from an antiques dealer when he was still in the twenty-fourth century, and he took it out of his pocket and opened it. He was not going to let any more women get killed tonight. He quickly made it into the next room in time to see the deranged clerk undressing an unconscious young girl. Without a sound, he swiftly plunged the blade of his knife into the back of the slovenly clerk and went to help her, thinking that she didn't look like a hooker, and wondering who she was and what she was doing here.

The Ripper entity had had it's fill of feasting on the fear of the four people he victimized that night. It had lost energy when Roberta fainted, and realized that it would do it no good to rape her now. The clerk gasped a last breath as the Ripper exited him for parts unknown. The former businessman pulled the corpse off of the girl. Ralph thought that the mysterious young lady was extremely lucky to still be alive. He saw her two-way radio which was now lying on the floor next to the dead bellhop. He thought it looked quite sophisticated for a communications device from this era before wireless cell phones. He picked it and the poor girl up in his arms and pressed the only button he could see on the small device. He watched in puzzlement and then in astonishment as moments later both he and the girl were surrounded by a blue mist. He then found that they were no longer in the hotel but in a high-rise apartment.


	8. Chekov and Clare Get Acquainted With B5

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 8

Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari race hadn't met the guests from the other universe yet, and she had no intention to. It was not that she didn't like them; it was just that she felt that she had nothing to talk about with them. They both had been assigned guest quarters, and they were no doubt asleep by now, anyway. It was late at night on Babylon Five, and she had learned that they had been given a guided tour, under the watchful eyes of Chief of Security Garibaldi, Commander John Sheridan, the station's new manager, and Commander Ivanova, who was quite enchanted with the man who called himself Captain Pavel Chekov. He and his female companion had recovered fully from the mishap that had transported them here. Susan had it in the back of her mind that she wished that Bester would not return, but she resolved herself to the fact that he probably would. It seemed like evil people like him prospered while the good suffered. She also felt sorry for the rogue telepaths who lived in the bowels of the station. A few of them were curious and brave enough to come up and see for themselves the diametrically opposite in character double, and a few of them were asking for his help telepathically to get them off the station before Bester inevitably returned to hunt them down. At this particular moment, Chekov was at a loss as to what to do to help them, even though he wanted to. He also felt their longing to be free of Bester's relentless pursuit of them, and sympathized with their plight. Londo Molari had accompanied the new guests, quite infatuated with Clare, and Clare wondered aloud if he was having a bad hair day. Chekov smiled once again as Molari wondered why humans always asked him that whenever they first met him. An alien named G'kar briefly came up from behind Chekov and Pavel heard him say in his mind that every day was a bad hair day with the Centauri. Londo, puzzled by Chekov's amused expression, explained patiently after the Narn had left, that the hairdo was a part of his culture; the higher the hair, the higher the rank. Clare asked him if he was offended, and Chekov could tell he was lying when he said no. He projected the fact that he was offended to her mind, and she, now informed telepathically about what G'kar had done, told him about a practical joke to get even with him: put some temporary dye in his shower head, so when he takes his next shower, he will be a different color for a while. Molari thought that was very amusing, and he instantly forgave her for her lack of knowledge about his culture. Clare marveled at the variety of extraterrestrials on board the space station, and was also introduced to Ambassador Delenn's assistant Lennier. She thought the Minbari looked very interesting, with part of their skulls forming unique patterns of bone around their heads. Their culture and the way they dressed reminded her of Orientals.

The Minbari ambassador, after having dinner, had settled down for a quiet read of sacred scrolls before retiring to bed. She pulled her newly acquired hair out of her face as she read, still not quite used to the feel of it. She saw a strange glow out of the corner of her eye. Puzzled, she set the scroll down and looked in the direction of the glow. To her astonishment, it was her friend Draal, projecting himself from deep within the planet Epsilon Three, the world the station orbited. He addressed her warmly.

"_Greetings, Delenn. Have you met the new guests on Babylon Five yet? They are in need of our help."_

"Draal, I didn't think I would hear from you so soon. Are you well?"

"_I am fine, my lovely little student. I want you to meet the newcomers. I have something down here inside this planet that can help them get back to where they belong. They must know of it." _The Minbari caretaker of the planet's complex machinery looked at her with curiosity. _"By the way, how did you get hair?"_

"It's a long story, Draal. I had no intention of meeting them, but, if you wish, I will. What do you have?"

"_It is a portal similar to the one they described. It is called the Guardian of Infinity."_

Ralph Offenhouse stared at his new surroundings with incredulity, still holding the young unconscious girl in his arms, wondering where he was now. He was standing in front a safe-like enclosure, painted a dark brown to match the surrounding furniture. To his right was a large ebony office desk, with a little green blinking cube on the top of it. A large, comfortable-looking black leather chair was behind it. To his left stood a man in front of what appeared to be a rather large computer. The man turned and stared back at him in surprise. Ralph heard a meow and looked down, seeing a very lovely black cat with a shimmering diamond-studded collar. The man spoke to it, still looking Ralph over.

"Yes, I know who it is, Isis. Offenhouse, I didn't expect to see you materialize, but welcome. What happened to Roberta Lincoln?" He asked, indicating the young woman.

"Who are you and where the hell am I?"

"I am Supervisor 194, code named Gary Seven. You are in New York City in the year 1968. Please watch your language and answer my question. Put Roberta on the couch over there." Seven indicated a couch that was placed near the oversized computer. Ralph complied.

"You're the guy Chekov was talking to on the Guardian planet."

"That's right. About Roberta…"

"She fainted when some maniac tried to rape and kill her. I stabbed and killed him with my Swiss Army knife."

"She was sent to find you. Thank you for coming to her rescue. This was her first assignment as a new agent, and I am very glad she was not killed."

Ralph wondered why Supervisor 194 had sent the young lady named Roberta after him, and Seven explained that Starfleet Temporal knew what he was planning to do. It was against time travel rules to use foreknowledge of the future for personal gain. To do so could alter history. Ralph wanted to know how that could be possible, saying that one man could not possibly change history. He was wrong, of course. Seven showed him that if he had gone through with enriching himself with his knowledge of the future, there would have been no Starfleet. The Earth would have been run by big business, by unimaginative men who had no compulsion or desire for space exploration. Gary Seven also asked him if he ever read Ray Bradbury's story about a time traveler who went back to the age of dinosaurs and killed a butterfly, thus altering history. Ralph had read the story in his youth, and now understood. He also had changed his mind about staying in the twentieth century as he heard a soft moan coming from Roberta. Seven took her hand and patted it as she slowly regained consciousness and focused her eyes on him. Isis had settled down on top of the back of the couch, looking down at her with concern. She meowed softly at Seven.

Roberta was now conscious. Seven asked her if she was all right, but she only said five words.

"The devil knows my name. . . ."


	9. Starfleet Temporal Medical

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter nine

Londo awoke the next morning to the sound of a terrified scream coming from G'kar's quarters, and couldn't help but smile at his mischief making the previous night. G'kar did not have a shower in the conventional sense, so he had to improvise. His assistant Vir, who previously unbeknownst to him loved practical jokes, went and procured Centauri rainbow nits. They were harmless little insects, but were quite fun to use on unsuspecting practical jokers like G'kar. The tiny creatures had a very short life span off Centauri Prime, which was good in a way, since they would not spread to other areas of the space station. They were all dead by morning, with the exception of the ones that had burrowed into G'kar's skin. Londo had let the nits into a little port window next to the entrance to G'kar's quarters the previous night and was looking forward to getting even with this ninny. Perhaps now he would end this foolish human nonsense once and for all. He always thought that there was something devious about his diplomatic attaché. However, as a general rule, Londo liked deviousness. People like Vir kept life interesting, even though Babylon Five was a very interesting place, even more so with the addition of the human woman Clare Raymond. He was grateful to her, and thought he would miss her if she and Chekov went back to where they came from. G'kar's scream was loud enough to carry into the human section of the station, and Londo quite enjoyed it.

Ambassador Delenn heard the scream from G'kar as she was having breakfast. She wondered a little at Clare's question the previous afternoon, asking if Molari was having a bad hair day. It was like Clare had a premonition about her. She was the one who was having one now, still not used to having a full head of hair. Commander Ivanova had given her some shampoo the previous night and showed her how to use it, also giving her a conditioner to help with the inevitable frizzies. When she awoke this morning, though, a part of it was standing on end and completely unmanageable. She realized when she heard the scream from next door that her problem must be pretty minor in comparison. Smoothing it down the best she could, she stepped out of her quarters and quickly rang his door buzzer, asking him if he was all right. His aide Na'toth answered the door instead, looking very worried about him. The female Narn led her into his living area. She saw G'kar standing in front of a mirror with a shocked expression on his face, as if someone had poisoned him. Then, she noticed that he had turned pink, and his spots, which were previously a dark brown, were now a bright purple. His eyes had turned a weird shade of green. G'kar thought he had a deadly Narn disease. Needless to say, Dr. Franklin was quite amused when he used his scanner in his quarters. G'kar worriedly asked him how long he had to live and the doctor estimated another seventy years.

***

Roberta looked like she was in a daze. Seven was very concerned that the Ripper did something to her mind and decided to call Starfleet Temporal for a doctor for her. Offenhouse wondered if she had spoken literally or figuratively about the devil knowing her name. Seven knew that she was speaking literally. The entity had all the characteristics of being the prince of darkness, and he had dealt with him before. He was a murderer from the beginning of the world and he was an accuser of those he coerced into doing wrong, never taking responsibility for his own evil deeds. He and his minions also knew every person on Earth. Offenhouse and Seven both felt that he had no right to judge the last victim he killed. It took two to Tango, after all. Seven suspected that the entity had drained all of Roberta's fear from her, along with every other emotion. She needed to get her emotions back, so he decided to ask Temporal headquarters for a Vulcan. Having no emotions and going through life in a daze would not be good for his new agent, or any other human being. Offenhouse watched with interest as Supervisor 194 approached the large round metal "wall hanging" behind the leather sofa. Pressing a colorful button in the center of it, made to look like a simple decoration, he and Offenhouse watched as it slid to one side, revealing a viewing screen. Seven spoke in its direction.

"Starfleet Temporal medical, this is a green priority. I am Supervisor 194, code-named Gary Seven assigned to the latter part of the twentieth century on Earth."

"This is Temporal medical. What do you need, Mr. Seven?" An older woman had appeared on the screen, looking strangely familiar.

"Agent 258 is in need of a doctor, preferably a telepath or a Vulcan. The Ripper entity from 1974 has drained her of her emotions."

"We will send someone right away, 194." The woman said with a knowing smile. "Dr. McCoy of the Starship Enterprise in the twenty-third century is available. We will ask him to bring along First Officer Spock. We will contact them immediately and transport them to your apartment."

Offenhouse had put the two-way communications device that Roberta had dropped in his pocket and suddenly remembered it. He withdrew it and handed it to Seven as the supervisor pushed the button again and the wall decoration went back over the viewing screen. Seven was looking forward to seeing Spock and McCoy again. He thanked Ralph and then wondered where Roberta's servo was. Offenhouse, of course, did not even know what that was, so Seven had to explain that it looked like a fancy ballpoint pen. Roberta recalled in a monotone voice that she dropped it when she passed out in the drab hotel room. They had to get it back so nobody would get hurt. Seven also didn't want the device to fall into the wrong hands. Ralph offered to go back and get it, but Seven refused to let him go. His safety was Seven's responsibility. Going back himself to get it was also out of the question. It was too dangerous, and if the Ripper entity were to possess him, he might end up killing Roberta and not even know it. Then, he thought of Mr. Bester, and decided to offer him a trip back to his own universe in exchange for this little favor. He felt that Bester was the most logical choice to retrieve the device, being he wasn't from the twentieth century and the Ripper would probably not recognize him. At least he hoped it didn't.

***

Ambassador Delenn had finally informed Clare and Chekov about the newly revealed time portal deep inside Epsilon Three, the planet that Babylon Five was orbiting. It was then that Clare started to wonder if her husband Donald had been released from jail. Chekov asked her if she still remembered marrying him, and she said she did. He then told her that if she still remembered him as her husband, then everything must have turned out fine. The two were both intrigued by the idea of another Guardian time portal in this universe and wondered what it was like. Clare hoped that they didn't experience any more earthquakes.


	10. Spock and McCoy in Seven's Apartment

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 10

Ralph watched in fascination as Seven went to the large desk and manipulated the pen holder device that controlled the doors that concealed the safe-like transporter that he had emerged from. It had closed on its own when he had arrived, carrying poor Roberta. She still looked like she had been lobotomized, and was sitting on a burnt orange chair in front of the desk, staring blankly into space. He wondered how Seven knew that Roberta needed help and he explained to him that he had accidentally pressed the emergency beam-back signal on her communicator. As the doors to the hidden transporter parted, he noticed that the rather large computer was still visible and in operation. Ralph thought that the computer, although made to look like something from the sixties, was actually quite sophisticated for this era. It had voice recognition software and could hold a conversation with a human operator; something quite unheard of in the sixties, and even in his time. Computer technology of the late nineties was only beginning to use voice recognition software, but so far, it was only one-sided. He recalled that the sixties was an era of absolutely primitive computer technology by comparison. The computers of this era were huge, noisy, and cumbersome and were only used by big business and scientists. This particular one looked quite futuristic, even for a man of his time. They waited as the two Starfleet officers materialized in the alcove.

Spock was quite astonished to discover the identity of Agent 258, but contained his astonishment by simply raising an eyebrow. He told Mr. Seven that he hadn't mentioned that his agent was Roberta Lincoln, and Seven smiled and said that he didn't ask. Sighing softly, Spock had to agree with that. McCoy, of course, had heard of the young woman, and immediately withdrew a small device similar to the one that Ralph had seen Beverly Crusher use when he was first awakened in the twenty-fourth century. This one, on closer inspection, however, seemed a little less sophisticated, but at least it worked. The doctor knelt beside her and turned the small device on, waving it above her head. A few minutes later, he stood with a serious expression on his face. He recalled that her condition was very similar to that of someone named Simon Van Gelder.

"Miss Lincoln is suffering from a case of neural synapse damage, affecting the portion of her brain that regulates emotions."

"Interesting." Spock commented. "Miss Lincoln's condition is what Vulcans strive for all their lives."

McCoy smiled in amusement.

"You mean to tell us that Vulcans want to be mental vegetables, Spock?"

Ralph snickered and Seven looked heavenward. Spock sighed again.

"No, of course not, Doctor. We strive for complete control of emotions. You know that."

"Of course. I'm sorry, Spock. I couldn't resist. Actually, Miss Lincoln is hardly a mental vegetable. She is able to function at a basic level in this state. However, unlike Vulcans, humans need their emotions." The twenty-third century doctor withdrew another larger device. He spoke again. "As I recall, the Ripper sustained itself on the fear of other life forms. Why it chose to suck all of her emotions from her mind is a mystery." Those around him could not argue with that. The device was about six inches long, curved, with various lights and switches on it. He placed it on Roberta's forehead after removing her colorful seventies-style scarf and pressed a button.

"Can you help her, Doctor?" Ralph asked curiously, quite concerned for the young lady.

"Yes, Mr…?"

Seven suddenly realized that he forgot to introduce Ralph to the two gentlemen from the future. He quickly answered instead.

"This is Ralph Offenhouse, gentlemen. He is from the late nineteen-nineties. He had expressed an interest in returning to his own time via the Guardian of Forever, but there was an earthquake on that planet. He materialized here after a short and, no doubt, frightening excursion with Jack the Ripper in 1974."

McCoy's jaw dropped in astonishment at the mention of the Guardian and Jack the Ripper and Spock raised both eyebrows. Spock recalled the Enterprise computer mentioning the year 1974, when the Ripper had killed five women. Apparently, Roberta had almost been victim number six. They just had the nasty run-in with the aforementioned entity, which implicated Scotty as a murderer on Argelius II. McCoy quickly got over his surprise and explained that the device he had placed on Roberta's forehead was meant for brain trauma of her type. He still had it in his medikit, being it was also used for Scotty's concussion, suffered at the hands of a woman crewmember on board the Enterprise.

Isis, in human form, had gone to release Mr. Bester, who had agreed to go back to 1974 to retrieve the servo that Roberta had dropped when she was attacked by the Ripper entity. She felt that there was something very creepy about the way he was looking at her, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. As McCoy was healing Roberta's brain trauma, she and the psi cop stepped into the room, Isis discreetly keeping a servo trained on him in case he tried anything. It was Bester's turn to look astounded as he recognized the now unconscious girl as the one who had approached him in Kiev. McCoy had given her a sedative so that the device could work on the specific area of her brain that had been traumatized, and also so it would not be affected by any stray conscious thought. Spock and McCoy were also astonished at Bester's resemblance to Mr. Chekov, and asked who he was and what he was doing in the twentieth century. Bester, after introducing himself to the men from the future, and explaining that he and Chekov had somehow switched places, mentioned that if he still had his telepathic ability, he would be able to help Miss Lincoln. Isis hissed, and, in cat language, made the comment that he would probably help her to an early grave. Seven told her that that was very impolite, but he knew that her species was also telepathic, which is how he was able to communicate with her when she was in cat form. She had picked up on the fact that Bester was a killer in his universe, and was also a Satanist. Seven, not picking up on this, simply escorted the psi cop into the transporter and wished him good luck at quickly locating the servo and retrieving it.

***

Chekov finally got the chance to consult star maps, supplied by Commander Ivanova. He was not too surprised to discover that the planet Babylon Five was orbiting was in the exact location of the Guardian planet in his universe. Ivanova was quite surprised to learn that he knew how to read and decipher star maps, and he told her that he had been a navigator on board a starship called the Enterprise for several years, and knew a lot about star maps and space travel. He also mentioned that he was a little concerned that the people in this universe had not yet developed warp drive technology. True, the star gate they employed was very much like an artificial wormhole, but it was nothing like the technology he was used to. He thought of imparting the knowledge of warp drive to these people, but then thought better of it. It might be a violation of the Prime Directive. Chekov then thought of asking Molari why his people had wiped out an entire alien race that had been living on their planet, something, he felt, was an unconscionable thing to do. Molari told them that these Vulcanians were quite violent, and had tried to kill them. Chekov thought that didn't sound like the Vulcans at all, but more like the Romulans. There was one small difference between Romulans and Vulcans; the V-shaped formation on their foreheads. That description confirmed that the race Molari's people had wiped out were indeed the Romulans.


	11. L Q's Big Secret

The Bester of Both Worlds, Chapter 11

In the twenty-fourth century, L.Q. Sonny Clemons had a big secret. Right after he had settled on Argelius, he found out that there was a clandestine organization similar to the Men in Black from his century. They had approached him right after a sold-out concert when he was busy signing autographs, knowing that he was from the past, and asked him if he would like to become an agent. At first, he thought they were joking, but after meeting a human being from the twentieth century by the name of Gary Seven on their super secret base of operations on Aldea, a planet exactly one thousand light years from Earth, he decided it might be an interesting diversion. One day, soon after his recruitment and very soon after he was trained, he was called to Earth by Seven to keep an eye on someone named Alfred Bester and to keep a young lady agent named Roberta Lincoln safe from a powerful evil non-corporeal entity nicknamed Jack the Ripper. Sonny also knew that Offenhouse would be there. He felt a little on edge about that, since the former businessman and he really did not like each other. He also was concerned that Offenhouse would be resentful at seeing him again, probably making some snide comment about being forever linked with him and Clare, just because they shared a cryonic chamber.

Four hundred years ago, Aldea was the home of the beings who were interested in keeping Earthlings from destroying themselves before they developed into a peaceful people. The Aldeans were not human. The people who were later poisoned by radiation from an immense and powerful computer they called the Custodian were not native to this planet. The original inhabitants of the planet were known to Earthlings, who were sometimes abducted by them, as the Grays. They were the ones who had built the super powerful time transporter. The reason why they had abducted so many poor souls from Earth was that they were dying out as a species, and were trying to find compatible DNA so that they could survive. Unfortunately, the two species were not genetically compatible, so they were doomed. They had decided to make up for abducting human beings by starting this MIB organization so Earth would not suffer the same fate as they would.

On Earth in the twentieth century, Gary Seven had placed Roberta back on the leather couch, placing a pillow under her head. Dr. McCoy was concerned that she might have a sore neck when she awoke, if she remained on the chair where she was sitting when he gave her the sedative. The small device that was placed on her forehead would now have less of a chance of falling off as well, since she was now in a supine position. Seven thought it was a good thing that the twenty-third century doctor had put her under, for Alfred Bester was in the room. He knew that the man from the different universe gave her the creeps. Bester had commented that he had that effect on many people, but assured Supervisor 194 that he was harmless. Isis, of course, knew better. She had reverted back to her usual cat form, and sat perched on top of the back of the couch, keeping a watchful eye on their newest agent, who was also her friend. She did not feel that this Bester person was harmless at all, and she was ready to pounce and scratch his eyes out if he made a menacing move towards the unfortunate girl, or fortunate, depending on one's point of view. She was fortunate enough to survive a run-in with Jack the Ripper. Seven pushed the decorative button on the wall decoration again, and called for an agent to keep an eye on Bester when he went to retrieve Roberta's dropped servo.

They all waited patiently until Sonny materialized inside the safe-like alcove. Offenhouse looked astonished and aghast.

"Clemons? You recruited _Clemons_?! What are we, joined at the hip?"

Seven shrugged, Spock raised an eyebrow, and McCoy looked at the two of them curiously. It was obvious to both him and Spock that the two men knew each other. He was still tending to Roberta, and was asked how long the device on her forehead was going to remain there. He said it varied with the severity of the brain injury, but it would not take much longer. Her condition was already starting to improve, for McCoy saw some rapid eye movement.

"Well, hello to you too, fellow Popsicle. It's not my fault that we keep bumpin' into each other. I will wager, though, that when this little assignment is over, I won't be swimming in your soup again. When I learned that you were here, I almost thought it wasn't worth it, but, hey, I'm here to look after this Bester chap and to keep this little gal from having her brain scrambled further. I'm not here to bug you, so just shut your trap."

***

Chekov now had a way to help the rogue telepaths, and he decided to take advantage of the fact that he looked just like his counterpart. He went into Bester's quarters when his aides were off somewhere else and procured one of his black Psi Corps uniforms. He smiled at the thought that when that creep returned to his universe, he would be blamed for letting this harassed and terrorized group of rogue telepaths escape with him and Clare to the planet below. About ten of them decided to accompany him to the inside of the planet the locals called Epsilon Three. Chekov was also disappointed that this universe had no matter/energy transporters, but he also was an excellent pilot. After informing the alien named Draal that twelve people were coming down, they all boarded a borrowed cargo ship. Chekov familiarized himself with the controls, and found that they were rather simple and straight-forward. He was looking forward to seeing the Guardian of this universe.

They made it to the inner chambers of the planet without incident, and Chekov saw that there was a landing area where he could land the spacecraft. After checking to see if this chamber had a breathable atmosphere, they all stepped out. Ivanova had informed him of the booby traps the people from Babylon Five encountered when they first explored this place, but Chekov felt that they were in no danger, being that the new Minbari caretaker of the complex machinery knew they were there and what they were there for.

The Guardian of Infinity was much more complex than the Guardian of Forever. It knew of Gary Seven and contacted him, informing him that soon Chekov, his lady friend, and ten rogue telepaths would be transported into his apartment in the twentieth century in the other universe. Seven was very glad that he had been correct in his assumption that Chekov had switched places with Bester, and he was also happy to learn that Clare Raymond was all right. The people who were accompanying Clare and Chekov wondered how they would be received in the other universe, and wondered if their lives would be better. Pavel assured them that they would be much better off, since nobody would be enslaved by anything remotely like the Psi Corps anymore, and that they would be free to go wherever they wanted, once all of them made it to 'his' twenty-third century. Clare had said her goodbyes to Londo Molari and the rest, thinking that she was going to miss the strange clown-like alien. However, she had no desire to stay in this universe. She found it wasn't to her liking, after learning that the ambassador and the Narn were usually at each other's throats. There were also too many wars in this universe, and too much mistrust and suspicions among the many races on the station.

The twelve soon stood in front of the Guardian of Infinity. It was quite different in appearance from its counterpart in the other universe. This one was perfectly symmetrical, flat on the bottom and forming an arc on the sides and the top, and appeared to be made of some kind of metal. Some cement steps led to its base, and when it greeted them and bade them welcome, Chekov was astonished to hear a female voice.


	12. The Rogue Telepaths Free at Last

The Bester of Both Worlds, Chapter 12

Sonny and Bester materialized inside the vacant hotel room. The stench of human blood still wafted through the room. Sonny shuttered and put a hand over his mouth.

"You look a little green around the gills, pal." Bester observed with a wry smile.

"Is it any wonder, Bester? Someone was brutally murdered in the next room, and Offenhouse killed the guy who was possessed by the entity who did it." It was then that he noticed the corpse of the bellhop, Offenhouse's knife still stuck in his back. "Oh, God, I'm gonna barf!"

Something touched him on the shoulder, and to Clemons' amazement, his nausea immediately subsided. Not knowing what else to do, Sonny mumbled thanks.

"Don't thank me, Clemons. Thank my lord Lucifer. There will be no barfing today." Clemons stared at him in surprise and a little shock as the Psi cop looked around the room. "Are you sure you know what this thing looks like?"

"Sure I'm sure. He has horns and a tail and carries a pitchfork."

Bester grinned in amusement.

"A common misconception, dreamed up by some dolts from the Middle Ages. Actually, my master is quite magnificent in appearance. However, my friend, I was talking about the servo."

"Oh. Yeah. I'm an intergalactic secret agent like Seven. Of course I know what it looks like. It should be on the floor somewhere since Mr. Seven said Miss Lincoln dropped it when she fainted." As Sonny's eyes scanned the floor for the device, Bester knelt on the floor and appeared to be praying to his god. "What are you doin'?"

"I'm asking my master to help us locate it." Bester soon heard a voice, telling him where to look. "It's under the night stand." He knelt again, this time picking it up and handing it to him. "Sometimes he is even kind enough to help me find lost objects. Is this it?"

"Yeah… it is." Sonny stared at Bester for a moment, suddenly feeling uneasy in his presence, and put the device in his pocket. "Let's skidattle before the Russian cops arrive. I would hate to be fingered for these killings."

"As would I. I was already in jail once in this century, caged up with some guy named Raymond who was wrongly accused of the crime."

Sonny pressed a button on his wrist communicator and they soon dematerialized, reappearing moments later inside the safe-like alcove. Sonny withdrew the servo from his pocket and handed it to Seven.

"Mission accomplished, sir."

"No problems with the Ripper?"

"Not a one."

Roberta appeared to be reacting to her dreams. McCoy had taken the device off her forehead, her brain injury now healed. He looked on with concern as she whimpered a "No!" and appeared to be struggling with some unseen force. Suddenly, Isis's ears flattened, she hissed loudly, let out an elongated yowl, and began to claw at the air. She lost her balance and fell on Roberta's lap. Apparently terrified at what she saw, and unable to help her friend, she darted out of the room and went to hide. Seven knew what was troubling them, for Isis had screamed it into his mind, _"It's the Ripper! Help, Gary, help!"_

Roberta started to scream in sheer horror, still unable to wake up, and she couldn't move anything but her head. The Ripper, still looking like the dead desk clerk, was holding the bloodied kitchen knife and was brandishing it with an evil, unnatural grin of supernumerary teeth as he unzipped his fly.

"_Now I am going to finish what I started. I'm looking forward to seeing your star-shaped birthmark on your sweet little ass." _It said, snarling and drooling like some feral beast. Roberta closed her eyes, resigned to the fact that soon she would be another victim of this horrible demon. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes, and she started to ask God for help, not really sure He was listening. She told Him that she wasn't the best person in the world, but she did not want to die like this.

Death did not come, and she cautiously opened her eyes, terrified at what she might find. She felt fingers on her temple. She did not know it, but Spock was attempting to calm her with a meld. To both her and Spock's astonishment, the two saw another entity. The new arrival was a tall, majestic glowing figure, staying the hand of the former angel. The new entity turned and smiled benignly at her, and told her not to be afraid. It said it was her guardian angel, sent to stop the Ripper demon from hurting her again. The angel then twisted the knife out of the demon's hand and the murder weapon vanished when it clattered to the floor. Her guardian angel then ordered the Ripper demon to depart, or it would destroy it before its time. Spock, at that moment, began to reconsider his belief that angels did not exist. He suddenly thought of the age-old question as to why angels helped some people but not others. Seven later guessed that it was not for human beings to know, but all would be revealed some day.

Bester decided it was his time to leave this universe and asked Seven if he was ready to bring him back. He sincerely hoped that he would get his telepathic abilities when he returned to his own time and universe. Seven opened the safe-like enclosure and ushered him in. After Roberta awoke, she averted her eyes, not wanting to look at Chekov's double. She did not say it, but she was very glad that Bester was leaving. He uttered an insincere apology to her, but she chose not to respond. He disappeared in the blue transporter haze. The remaining people in the room thought they saw another entity with him. Perhaps it was the Ripper. If it was, they had mixed feelings about its departure from their universe.

***

The Guardian of Infinity announced it was time for Pavel, Clare and the ten rogue telepaths to leave. The female voice of this alternate Guardian told them to expect to see Bester in the limbo between universes, but to not be afraid. It would set up a force field between them. It said it would also fix it so Bester would not remember it. It had also detected the Ripper demon that was accompanying the Psi cop. It could do nothing about it, but the Ripper had satisfied its hunger for fear for at least a little while. The female Guardian was sure that the people in the Babylon Five universe could handle it.

Bester found himself in a limbo. In front of him was an arc-shaped opening of some kind. Some people were emerging, and, to his surprise, he recognized some of the rogue telepaths he had been pursuing. His mouth dropped when he saw his double from the other universe, and, to his chagrin, saw that he was wearing one of his Psi cop uniforms. The double named Chekov seemed to lose his balance for a moment, and Bester suddenly realized he had just regained his telepathic ability.

"_Nah nah nah nah nah. You can't catch us!" _The women were saying in his mind. Some were waggling their fingers at their ears, and some of the men were giving him the finger. "The gloves are off, pal." His double said with a thick Russian accent, throwing them at his feet with a big smile on his face.


	13. The Rogue Telepath Named Scarlet

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 13

Just before she finally awakened from her harrowing subconscious vision of Jack the Ripper, alias the demon, Roberta had the presence of mind to thank the being who called itself her guardian angel. When it appeared, and even before she had opened her eyes in her vision, she had begun to feel a strong sense of love from the angelic being. After having the "murder weapon" twisted out of its grasp, the demon vanished through the wall with a frustrated and angry look on its ugly face, muttering something about how much he and his kind despised humanity and guardian angels in particular. Roberta wondered why the evil being did not feed off of her terror this time, and her angel, who was neither male nor female in appearance, read her mind and told her that it had stopped him from doing so. The beautiful being then gently told her that she was now free to awaken, and that she was greatly loved by the Almighty and she was spared because she had a mission in life, and God wanted her to accomplish it. The angel was not specific about what was meant by that, but told her to just continue to be herself and all would become clear to her in time.

Ralph and Sonny looked on with interest and concern for the young woman, as Seven went to find his cat Isis, who was not really a cat, and who had been badly frightened when she was the only one who saw the Ripper entity about to attack poor Roberta for the second time. It was also not every day that a person was saved by an angel from certain death. They were very much impressed with McCoy's remarkable device and the fast-acting sedative that he had given Roberta was like nothing they had ever seen before. They were also astounded that the twentieth century natives knew the alien named Spock, who had withdrawn his fingers from Roberta's temple, and wondered how they knew him. Seven had coaxed Isis out of her hiding place, and she growled softly when she saw Bester and the demon near the hidden transporter. It was now masquerading as an angel of light, but Isis wasn't fooled. In a way, she pitied Bester for not seeing the creature for what it really was. Seven told Clemons and Offenhouse about the time he was about to stop a nuclear bomb warhead from being launched, and the men from the original Enterprise had followed him down, unsure of who or what he was. They had accidentally locked on to his powerful transporter, and had beamed him aboard their vessel. The Vulcanian now had accepted the fact that angels were very real, but still was unable to accept their supernatural attributes. He now considered angels and the former angels known as demons to be just two more mysterious examples of life forms in the universe. Roberta was finally coming to.

"Thank you…thank…you…." Roberta muttered as she came out of the drug induced coma. Her eyes focused on the kindly face of Dr. McCoy, who was bending over her, taking readings with his little scanner. He smiled gently at her.

"You are quite welcome, young lady."

Spock looked at the doctor quizzically.

"She was not addressing you, Doctor."

Roberta sat up; feeling quite stunned by her experience with the supernatural, and McCoy noticed she was now massaging her temples. Apparently, she had developed a headache from her ordeal. When she had come to her senses a little more, she spoke to the Vulcan with a small amount of disapproval. Seven, of course, had told her a little about his race, telling her that Vulcans could be very blunt at times, but he didn't have to be that way with the doctor as McCoy gave her a hypo spray for her headache.

"No, Spock, but I do think the good doctor deserves gratitude as well as my angel. I also appreciate the fact that you guys took time off from your starship in the future, traveling back some three hundred years just to tend to me. Thanks for the headache medicine, Doc. I feel great." She noticed that Bester was standing at the transporter, apparently ready to depart. She glared at him for about two seconds, and then averted her eyes as he mumbled his insincere apology.

McCoy grinned.

"My pleasure, my dear." His expression then sobered. "Are you sure you are all right? You were terrified when you were unconscious."

Roberta smiled back wanly.

"I'm OK, Doctor. That stuff works better than aspirin." She paused for a moment and then glanced shyly up at the Enterprise's first officer, with a little blush, remembering their first encounter. "Mr. Spock, when you said that Mr. Seven and I would have interesting adventures in store for us, you had an incredible talent for understatement."

Seven smiled at her as he ushered the man from the other universe into the open safe-like transporter. He told the others after the psi cop disappeared that they were about to meet some more people very shortly. The blue transporter fog appeared again as twelve more people eventually emerged. The telepaths emerged first, followed by Clare, and then Chekov, who still had an amused expression on his face.

***

One of the rogue telepaths had a special gift that no other telepath or other human being had. Her name was Scarlet O'Neil and she could make herself invisible at will, and had been named after a famous but mostly forgotten fictional heroine from the nineteen forties. The original Scarlet O'Neil was thought to be just a pulp fiction heroine crime fighter, but she had been very real in this universe. No one,including her, knew why or how the current Miss O'Neil had acquired the gift of invisibility and she used it sparingly. Most non-telepathic people did not know she possessed this ability, but the Psi Corps was aware of it and had tried to track her down without success. She hated them because they had killed her father, who was also a telepath, and was glad she had been able to elude them. When the Bester look-alike offered to take them to his universe, she jumped at the chance. However, there was one other in their group that she was suspicious about. In fact, all the other rogue telepaths were suspicious about the other telepath. She looked and sounded like Talia Winters, but she claimed to be her long lost twin sister, Victoria, separated at birth. They, of course, knew that the Talia they knew had vanished; her personality a fake implanted one. The present Talia (aka Victoria) was as vicious as Bester. Why she had chosen to accompany them was somewhat of a mystery, for she was effectively blocking their telepathic scans. She made them all very nervous.


	14. McCoy's Little Red Pills

The Bester of Both Worlds, Chapter 14

Roberta thought that nobody in the room understood that she was still very frightened by what had happened to her. She had tried to put up a brave front, but she was a bundle of nerves, and was now hoping that the nightmare was over. When Chekov emerged from the transporter, however, she gasped and turned pale, seeing him in the Psi cop uniform instead of his maroon colored one, which he apparently had left in the other universe. She felt her legs turning to rubber and the person standing closest to her, an attractive auburn-haired telepath named Scarlet, caught her as she passed out again. McCoy saw that this Chekov looked much older than the young navigator on the Enterprise, but he could tell that the new arrival was not Bester, even with the black uniform. He could understand Roberta's reaction, however, and realized now that she would need some psychological help. Like many victims of violence, she was obviously suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, called 'shell shock' in this day and age. Spock carried the poor girl back to the leather couch as Chekov, very concerned for his young friend, started to go towards her. It was now very crowded in the room, with the ten telepaths and Clare looking on. The one who had caught her had caught McCoy's attention. She reminded him of Yeoman Barrows, only she had much darker hair with red highlights and large expressive dark brown eyes. He felt her probing his thoughts and then shook his head with dismay. McCoy had an eye for beauty, to be sure, but her probing disturbed him. He did not let her distract him from tending to his young patient, however. Spock had an even stronger reaction, and stared at her in astonishment. Her telepathic ability was as formidable as Miranda Jones, but he could also sense that there was something very different about her. He had a strong sense that Miss O'Neil was not human.

"No, Pavel, don't!" The doctor called out. "She thinks you are Bester. It would be good if you didn't approach her just yet. Give her time to adjust to that black uniform that you are wearing. By the way, you look like a member of the Gestapo. Whatever possessed you to wear such a thing?"

"I did it to fool Bester's superiors, so when he gets back to his universe, he would be blamed for letting these telepaths escape. I'm very sorry I frightened Roberta. It wasn't intentional. Is she all right?"

McCoy was waving the scanner over her head again and nodded in the affirmative. It didn't take long for her to return to consciousness, and she watched as Isis, in an effort to convince her that the man in the Psi cop uniform was not Alfred Bester, but a much older version of her friend, approached him in cat form and rubbed against his legs and purred. Roberta, still unsure, stared at Isis for a moment, and then at the doctor, who smiled at her gently and nodded reassuringly. Her lips started to quiver and she started to cry, her tension starting to melt away.

"You look like you need a hug, my dear."

"If…if you don't mind, Doctor, I would rather you didn't."

"I quite understand. Pavel…you look old! I didn't know that you were recruited by Seven when you were an ensign." He observed, removing some red pills that looked very familiar to Spock from his medical bag. "Miss Lincoln, Spock and I have to leave pretty soon. I want to give you something that will help you."

"Wh…what?"

"Relax, honey child. These won't hurt you. They are a special kind of sleeping pill. You are probably concerned about having bad dreams from your ordeal, and these will help suppress them. Take one tonight when you go to bed, and don't worry. They aren't habit forming." He handed the bottle to her, backed away, put his hand behind his back and crossed his fingers. Spock said nothing, but raised an eyebrow. The pills he was giving her were sleeping pills all right, but there was no such thing as a dream suppressant in their century. The telepaths smiled and kept their mouths shut. They also all knew what Ambassador Delenn had just been through with the man in their universe who called himself Jack the Ripper. However, he was a bit different than the one in Chekov's universe. Their Jack the Ripper was abducted by aliens known as Vorlons and claimed to work for them for centuries. They came to the conclusion that the man they knew named Sebastian was insane, and was probably possessed by the real entity when he was torturing poor Delenn. There was no doubt in their minds that the nineteenth century Englishman the Vorlons had abducted was probably a copy cat criminal and quite delusional in his belief that he was Jack the Ripper.

McCoy and Spock stepped into the transporter and soon dematerialized from Seven's apartment. They found themselves back in the transporter room of the Enterprise, and saw Captain Kirk at the controls. He asked them if their mission on twentieth century Earth was a success and they both nodded in the affirmative. It was then that McCoy remembered that the woman Mr. Seven described to him and Spock when he called Starfleet Temporal Medical was probably none other than a much older version of Roberta Lincoln. If that was true, it would be amazing. She would obviously have some clout in the future to get both him and Spock to appear in Gary Seven's transporter. Spock studied his face for a moment, and then asked him why he had lied to the young Miss Lincoln about the little red pills. McCoy smiled at him and told him that he was just applying psychology. Doctors in her era were trusted implicitly. If she believed that the red pills suppressed bad dreams, then they probably would. Spock thought that was very sneaky of the doctor, but also very ingenious.

Sonny Clemons soon realized that his mission was concluded, even though he really could not do anything to stop the Ripper, and Seven ushered him into the safe-like enclosure after he said his goodbyes to Clare and Ralph, hoping that he would never encounter the latter again. He soon found himself at the secret MIB headquarters deep inside the planet Aldea.

***

The Guardian of Infinity was very proud of its accomplishment of wiping Mr. Bester's memories of it and the disposition of the telepaths he had been pursuing. The female Guardian had placed him on the floor of his quarters, where he had passed out the night he attended Molari's party. Giving him back his 'hangover' was an added touch, making him believe that all he experienced on twentieth century Earth was a dream. However, there was one thing she overlooked. When he got up from the floor, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw a neatly folded maroon uniform on his bed. He, of course, remembered his counterpart from the other universe, but he had no idea how he got back to his quarters on Babylon Five. One thing he knew for certain. He did not feel the presence of the rogue telepaths on the station. His intercom, sensing that he was back, informed him that there was a recorded message for him from the 'new and improved' Talia Winters, aka Victoria. She told him that she had infiltrated the group and was hot on the trail of the one telepath Psi Corps had been pursuing for a long time; Scarlet O'Neil. Miss O'Neil had a gift that the Corps wanted to use to its advantage, and they planned to capture her and question her, and, if necessary, dissect her, in order to find out how she got the gift of invisibility. Since Miss Winters was posing as her non-existent twin sister, Victoria, it would now be a simple matter to abduct Scarlet and take her back to their universe where she could be studied. Miss Winters also told him about how the Guardian of infinity had transported him there.


	15. Pavel Gets Hurt by Winters

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 15

Bester was not stupid. He knew he could not don the red uniform his counterpart had left and putter on down to Epsilon Three just like that. The planet's defense system would not let him get by without a fire fight, and he would never survive such an assault. He would first have to try and find a way to deceive the alien who was running the place into thinking he was that Chekov fellow. The problem with that was that he wasn't that good of an actor and he doubted he could fake a Russian accent. Even if he made it into the inner recesses of the planet and deceived Draal, the Guardian of Infinity would see through his disguise and would not grant him passage through it back to that other universe. His operative, Miss Talia Winters, AKA "Victoria", would have to capture the elusive Miss Scarlet O'Neil herself. Now that Miss Winters' actual personality was uncovered, she was in a great position to do just that. She had told him about her fake first name. It was the same as a character from the most unique soap opera of all time, one that his master had helped create in an effort to convince people that ghosts were spirits of the deceased and that vampires were real. Bester found it a rather strange coincidence that Miss Winters would choose a first name from such a weird source, but he rather enjoyed the idea, as did his god. If Miss Winters did not succeed in her efforts to capture Miss O'Neil or any of the others who had escaped the station, there would always be more of the telepaths from Earth or Mars. It would be a pity, though. O'Neil was totally unique, unlike all the others who had sought sanctuary in the lower recesses of Babylon Five. He smiled at the thought of the name of the station. His master had told him that he inspired the makers of the five stations to choose this name. He said that Babylon was never going to fall, even though four previous stations with the same name either vanished or were destroyed by mysterious means. This last Babylon station held Satan's interest, and he had made it his mission to inspire the populace with petty wars, infighting, prostitution, avarice, gambling, murder, and every other vice he could use. He planned to spread the darker side of humanity throughout the cosmos in this other universe, and he would be in charge of the newest Babylon. The devil, for now, planned to stay in this universe because he thought the one he left behind was too soft and worshipped his enemy too much. He enjoyed terrorizing that sweet young intergalactic agent Roberta Lincoln until that goody two shoes angel interfered. In this universe, there were a lot more atheists and agnostics to control. People like Bester were his favorites. Those who completely lost faith in and abandoned the so-called Almighty were the easiest prey to manipulate.

After the telepaths formally introduced themselves to Mr. Seven and Miss Lincoln, they found that they would now have to choose where they wanted to go. The planet Betazed had recently been discovered by the Enterprise, and Chekov felt it too much of a coincidence that the one named Miss Scarlet O'Neil resembled the newly discovered peaceful aliens. Four of them decided to settle on Spock's home planet, and another four decided to emigrate to Betazed. There were only two left now who had not decided where they wanted to go. Roberta was quite amused by the fact that one of the remaining telepaths had the same name as a main character from her favorite soap opera, but she was a little leery of her. So was Clare. There was something very evil about this version of Victoria Winters that they could not quite put their fingers on. Being that this was the end of her day as an intergalactic agent, Roberta excused herself, picked up the red pills McCoy had given her, and left for home. Isis had decided to accompany Clare, now that Roberta had gone home for the day. Seven had said his goodbyes to her and that he would see her tomorrow. He knew that she didn't want to get involved with whatever was obviously between the two women telepaths who were left. He didn't blame her one bit. Since Clare's safety was his responsibility as well, he escorted her to the next room, sensing that the two who were left obviously knew each other and were about to start a fight or something. He, being older, also realized that Miss O'Neil's name was very familiar as well, and knew its source. It was going to take Miss Lincoln a while to recover from her experiences with the real supernatural, which, to her, unlike the aforementioned TV series, was not harmless at all.

"Well, Scarlet…it looks like it's just you and me now." Winters said with a sly smile.

Miss O'Neil's eyes narrowed with contempt. She knew exactly why Miss Winters had remained, and it was not because she was undecided about where she wanted to go, or because she liked the company of the enigmatic Mr. Seven or his newest agent. She also sensed Miss Lincoln's and Mrs. Raymond's discomfort and knew that Miss Winters had a PPG gun hidden behind her back.

"What do you plan to do, Winters, shoot me? I am not going back to Babylon Five with you. You know that. I have eluded you people before and I will elude you again."

Winters whipped out her pistol, fired, and missed, hitting one of Seven's chairs, destroying it. As Seven went to get the fire extinguisher for the smoldering chair, O'Neil lunged towards her and twisted the weapon from her grasp and the two began to wrestle for control of the firearm, punching and scratching each other like wildcats. Seven, after using the extinguisher on the blackened remains of the chair and seeing that this was turning into a brawl, quickly set it down and went to the computer. He pressed a button on the keyboard, effectively draining Winters' weapon of its energy, so it wouldn't cause any more damage to his apartment. Then, he withdrew Roberta's retrieved servo, set it on heavy stun, and aimed it at the two women from the other universe. There appeared to be no need. Offenhouse and Chekov had pulled the two women apart and were holding them; Chekov was holding Miss Winters and Offenhouse was holding Scarlet, both women struggling violently in their grasps.

"This is not your fight, gentlemen! Scarlet is coming back to our universe, even if I have to kill her to do it!" Winters closed her eyes momentarily and seemed to concentrate on Seven's servo. It suddenly flew out of his hand, aimed itself at Chekov's head, and fired. Pavel fell to the floor, unconscious, and not with the goofy smile that usually followed a stun with the servo.

"Telekinesis!" Scarlet gasped in surprise. "So that's the gift your boyfriend gave to you!" With that, she touched the cartilage behind her right ear and instantly vanished. Offenhouse, caught by surprise, let her go. Scarlet immediately got control of the still floating servo, aimed it at Miss Winters, and fired, stunning her. Then, she reappeared the same way she had disappeared, apologized to Mr. Seven and Ralph Offenhouse, handed Seven's weapon back to him and told him that she had been hounded by the Psi Corps for far too long and to do with Miss Winters, whose real first name was Talia, what he wished. After checking Mr. Chekov's pulse and placing him on the leather couch, he and Ralph then dragged Miss Winters into the same holding cell that they had placed Bester in and activated the force field. It was then that Scarlet decided to go to the newly discovered planet called Betazed. It was a logical choice, considering she resembled the inhabitants. Winters was also out for the count. Then Scarlet told Ralph and Gary that when she was in physical contact with Miss Winters while they were fighting, she saw that Winters had left a recorded message for Bester in his quarters about the new Guardian and about them, but, at the moment, could do nothing with that information. She had also recalled early memories of her parents, and had wished they were still with her. They had immigrated to Earth in the present universe in the nineteen forties, inspiring an author to create the fictional Scarlet O'Neil. It turned out that she was part Betazoid and part Dowd, only Seven knowing about the second race. The Dowds were a race with an extremely long life span and endowed with amazing powers and abilities, invisibility being only one of them.


	16. Roberta Gets Zonked by a Little Red Pill

The Bester of Both Worlds, Chapter 16

Clare Raymond had the brilliant idea of bringing Miss Winters back to the other universe while she was still unconscious. This time, Ralph did not volunteer. Seven didn't blame him, but also thought that Ralph would make an excellent agent, even though he had made it clear that he was not interested in joining them. He had done enough already, and had told him that he felt very uncomfortable about entering that other universe, considering the people they had already encountered from it. Clare told him that not everyone was evil in that other reality, but she felt the same way. Seven himself did not relish the thought of entering that other universe, but he felt it was necessary to return Miss Winters. When Seven carried the stunned blonde female telepath through the corridor between universes, she began to stir. He quickened his pace and met Draal on the other end. The Minbari seemed surprised to see him, but then saw who he was carrying and understood why he had come.

"Draal, this woman almost killed one of my best agents. I want you to deal with her accordingly."

"What did she do, Mr. Seven?"

"She shot Mr. Chekov in the head with one of our defensive weapons. He is in a coma."

It was then that the Guardian of Infinity spoke up and told them that Chekov had been given Winter's telepathic ability from a non-disclosed source, along with residual ability from Bester and suggested that Draal let Bester come down to the inside of the planet for two reasons; one, to get his back and the other to redeem himself by going back in time to Seven's universe to help Mr. Chekov. After all, he had done nothing to harm any of them, even though he did pretend to be the psi cop and rescue the rogue telepaths from the lower regions of the station in orbit.

Mr. Bester realized that part of his telepathic abilities was missing. He now rated only P-11. Psi cops had to be P12 or higher. Without that ability that still resided with his counterpart from the other universe, he would lose his job as a psi cop. He couldn't stand the thought, so he decided that he should speak to Delenn about having her friend Draal let him go back into Epsilon Three, so he could return to that universe to retrieve the rest of his ability. He had nothing against Mr. Chekov. He knew that he was just doing what he thought was right. Also, there would be other telepaths. He pressed Delenn's door chime and waited patiently outside her door. Finally, she answered. She appeared in the doorway with her newly acquired hair in rollers. She looked at him with a surprised expression on her face.

"Mr. Bester, I presume. You wanted something of me?"

"Yes, Ambassador. I need you to contact your friend inside Epsilon Three. Mr. Chekov has part of my telepathic ability. I need to get it back or I will lose my job as a psi cop."

"Oh, boo hoo, as the humans say. From what I have heard, you have caused enough grief for those good people already. Your operative Talia Winters has just returned to the station. She almost killed your double, and for no good reason, I might add."

"Please…I appeal to you."

"No, you do not. However, because I am a decent person, I will help you. But, you will owe me one."

When Roberta arrived at her apartment, she put the key in the door and went inside. It was dark and she was still thinking about the day's events as she switched on her lamp beside her couch. It was about nine o'clock, but she did not feel tired. She was still worried about having nightmares about what had happened to her if she should fall asleep. It was then that she remembered the red pills that McCoy had given to her. They were in her hand-made macramé purse that she had procured at a recent love-in. She took them out and examined them thoughtfully. They reminded her of Red Hots candies. Of course, she knew they weren't. She went into the kitchen for a glass of water and then took one. Instantly, she began to feel very drowsy.

"Holy mackerel! These…things…work…f…" She collapsed into a deep sleep onto her oval cloth living room rug before she finished her sentence.

Mr. Seven had called Starfleet Temporal Medical again, this time for poor Pavel, who now appeared to be near death. This time, they had sent an attractive brunette Vulcan female doctor named Selar. Ralph and Clare both recognized her as being one of Dr. Crusher's aides on the Enterprise-D, the very ship where the medical crew had thawed them and brought them back to life a few years back. She also recognized them, and acknowledged them with a quick bow. She was all business, however, quickly taking a device similar to the one that McCoy used for Roberta out of her medical bag. She managed to stabilize his condition, but it was a serious injury. He was suffering from neural shock.

Pavel felt a strange sensation of floating, and in his mind's eye, he thought he saw himself lying on Seven's couch with Ralph and Clare looking at him with concern. He didn't see Mr. Seven as he floated to the ceiling and then went right through it, flying through the city of New York until he got to a rather impressive-looking brown stone building. As he floated inside, he was shocked to see Roberta lying in a supine position on her oval living room braided rug. He stared at her in concern for a few seconds, and then was relieved to see her chest rise and fall. Curiously, he heard her voice from behind him and turned his head.

"Captain Chekov? What are you doing here?"

"I…am not sure. The last thing I remember is being hit with a heavy servo stun between the eyes by that Winters witch. Are you all right?"

"I am not sure how to answer that, my friend. I took one of McCoy's red pills and zonked out. Are you all right?"

Chekov smiled. He apparently had had similar experiences with McCoy's little red pills, just like his former captain.

"No…I…do not think so, Roberta. The stun hit me pretty hard. In fact, this might even be a dream, although I don't see how."

Draal watched as Mr. Seven ushered Mr. Bester into the Guardian of Infinity. By the way, the Guardian had given Mr. Chekov Bester's residual telepathic ability because it knew that Miss Lincoln would need his help in combating any bad dreams she might have. She didn't let Bester know about the additional ability taken from Winters. The psi cop had been informed of Pavel's condition and had agreed to do what he could to make sure he did not die of his brain injury. The main reason he was returning, of course, however, was to get his telepathic gift back.


	17. Asshole Projection

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 17

Ralph Offenhouse had returned to the twenty-fourth century, electing to stay on Earth in that time period instead of returning to Ferenginar, bidding Clare a final farewell. Seven offered to make her a new agent as well, but she politely refused. She was intrigued with his offer, but then considered that it might complicate things with her yet future husband. She also soon left for the twenty-fourth century. Then, Seven was alone with Isis, the good Vulcan lady doctor from the Enterprise-D, and his unfortunate intergalactic agent. As Dr. Selar worked on the legendary Pavel Chekov, she noticed a smile forming on his face. To her, that was a positive sign. It probably meant that he was recovering from his brush with death and that the stun charge from the servo was wearing off. She was puzzled by the smile, however, sensing some telepathic activity. She asked permission from Seven to do a gentle meld, and he consented. Containing her astonishment, she discovered that he was in a mind link with Miss Lincoln and was conversing with her. Somehow, he had arrived at her apartment in the city, via something that used to be called astral projection or astral travel. In the twenty-fourth century, they had learned that this was actually a product of a mind that was either under stress, under the influence of mind-altering drugs such as LSD, or injured in some way. Selar was a member of a small group of Vulcans who did not believe that the Katra existed independent of the body, and was certainly not immortal. The belief in the immortality of the soul, she had learned, was a purely human invention, promulgated by their ancient Greeks and not supported by their scriptures. She believed that Chekov's injury had caused him to project himself to her apartment. The fact that he obviously had some kind of residual telepathic ability also had her come to the logical conclusion that he had wished to be there, and that somehow he had locked onto her mental frequency. Selar also learned that Miss Lincoln had taken a strong, fast-acting sedative, certainly not available in this era, and was lying on her living room floor. She asked Seven where the young agent had obtained it, and was astounded when he told her that Dr. McCoy, another legendary figure, had given it to her just before she left for home.

Seven was informed by his computer that he had two people waiting to talk to him: Draal from the other universe and Miss O'Neil on the temporary link supplied to her before she left for Betazed. Draal announced to him that Bester was returning, explaining that the Guardian of Infinity had given Mr. Chekov some of his ability because it apparently knew that Chekov would need it to connect with Miss Lincoln, and that Bester wanted it back. The Minbari caretaker of the Epsilon Three complex was told by Bester that Miss Lincoln was terrified of him, and he quite understood why. Selar was a little concerned that Bester might be a little too eager to take what Chekov still had back, and hoped that he would not injure the man further. Seven had the same concerns as the double appeared in his safe-like enclosure. He also hoped that Bester had not brought along any more demons. Bester picked up on his thoughts and told him that he had come alone and that he had no intention of harming Pavel or Miss Lincoln. Isis still growled at him, now sitting on top of the leather couch again, now watching over Chekov protectively, but she read in Bester's thoughts that he was being honest about this. She still didn't like him, and Bester knew it. Seven then answered Miss O'Neil's hail. She told him that she was interested in becoming an intergalactic agent, and that she sensed that Pavel and Miss Lincoln were in some kind of trouble. Bester immediately picked up on the fact that her father was still alive. He was astonished at this, being that he thought that he had killed her father when he refused to divulge his daughter's whereabouts. Seven wanted to check up on Miss Lincoln, but did not wish to leave his injured agent alone with only Isis to protect him or Miss O'Neil, once she arrived, from possible harm from the powerful telepathic psi cop. Bester offered to do it, but, of course, Seven thought that that was a bad idea, considering how ruthless and cunning Chekov's double could be, and also knowing how Roberta felt about him. Bester had the presence of mind to bring back Pavel's maroon uniform, having no use for it on Babylon Five. Seven thought that that was very considerate of him and that he would give it to Pavel once he recovered. He set it on the remaining orange chair near the safe-like transporter as Scarlet materialized inside it.

Bester then offered to link telepathically with Pavel, promising that he would not harm him in any way. Seven picked up the servo from the floor and aimed it at him, just in case he made any attempt to take the remainder of his telepathic ability back by violence. Bester was aware of that, and decided it would be in his best interest to cooperate with Mr. Seven for now. Also, he did not like the way Isis was looking at him, unsheathing her sharp claws. Unlike Dr. Selar, who could also easily take him out with a neck pinch, he did not have to be in direct telepathic contact with his subject. He simply placed his gloved hands over Pavel's head and concentrated.

Roberta was awfully glad to see Pavel, even if this was probably just a dream. They were standing in the middle of her living room floor, noting the actual arrival of Miss O'Neil, via Gary Seven's transporter, who gasped when she saw Roberta on the oval braided rug, the still open medicine container having spilled some of its contents on her hard wood floor. Carefully, Scarlet knelt and picked up the small bottle, putting the spilled pills back inside and the lid back on, setting it on the coffee table, and then checking Roberta for a pulse. She was relieved to find one as she lifted the petite young woman off the floor and laid her on her dark green davenport under a big bay window overlooking the lights of the city. She decided to stay for a time, when suddenly for no apparent reason, she began to get the uneasy sensation of being watched. She couldn't shake the feeling and it grew stronger. She was still going to stay and watch over Roberta, but she also decided to make herself invisible. She began to feel better now that nobody was able to see her, but she sensed that whoever was watching her knew that she was still there. She decided to open and close Roberta's door to her apartment to fool them into thinking that she had left. Roberta and Pavel bought it, but then their attention was directed to an unwelcome arrival.

"_Pavel!_" Roberta screamed in horror, seeing Bester standing right in front of them and pointing wordlessly at the psi cop. Pavel put his arms around her protectively; both of them watching in dismay as Chekov's double raised his gloved hands in a deceptively peaceful gesture. He smiled as benignly as he could at her.

"Do not be afraid, young lady. I am not here to hurt you or my doppelganger. I am here to collect what is mine."

"What do you mean?" Pavel asked uneasily. "I have heard of astral projection, but not asshole projection."

Under normal circumstances, Roberta would have thought that last comment hilarious, and figured he had said that to ease her fright, but she was still horrified at the double's appearance.

"You still have some of my telepathic ability, Mr. Chekov. I want it back." Bester took a step forward and spread his fingers out on his right hand. "Do not be afraid. This won't hurt a bit."

Roberta screamed herself awake, her astral form dissolving in Pavel's arms. Trembling, she stared incredulously at her clock radio which was playing the song "White Rabbit."

'_One pill makes you larger…one pill makes you small…'_

It was a strangely appropriate tune for the moment, but she was still terrified at what awaited poor Pavel at the hands of his evil counterpart.


	18. The Little Metal Box

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 18

Roberta, still shaken by what she decided was a bad dream, slowly got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She wondered how she got to the couch and if it really had been a dream, now recalling dropping on the floor after taking the powerful red sleeping pill. Still feeling groggy, frightened, and a little confused, she put her tea pot on to boil, opened her cupboard doors and took out a box of tea bags, in an attempt to retrieve some sense of normalcy. She sat down and put her head on the small white linoleum-covered kitchen table, covering the back of her head with her hands and shuttering, trying to get the images out of her mind. They seemed so real, and she felt she had rarely been more terrified by any nightmare before, with the exception of the Jack the Ripper demon. Recalling some details of the recent one now, she realized that both she and Pavel had been accosted for some reason by the phantom madman named Bester. There was a method to his madness, to be sure, but she couldn't fathom what that was. What was he going to do with Pavel and why? She had turned the radio off, puzzled also by the odd coincidence of the song it had been playing.

"It wasn't a dream, Miss Lincoln." A female voice announced from behind. Roberta started, feeling a warm gentle hand on her shoulder, and then thought she should be used to surprises by now, even if she was just getting started as a new intergalactic agent.

"Who's there?" She asked a little nervously, still a little groggy from the red pills. It was then she surmised that McCoy had lied to her.

"It's me, Scarlet O'Neil. I'm also new at this MIB stuff. Mr. Seven has made me a new agent as well, although I don't have a number yet, and asked me to check on you. The doctor probably didn't lie to you, being that this was a telepathic encounter, and not a dream, and he could not have foreseen that Bester would invade your and Mr. Chekov's subconscious. Your Russian friend is in great danger and we will have to leave for Seven's apartment immediately. There is no time for tea." Still invisible, Scarlet went to her stove and turned off the burner. Roberta looked up as Scarlet appeared on the opposite side of the table.

"What has happened and how long have you been here?"

"I have been here ever since you and Chekov observed me materialize. I felt you two watching me, and I thought that Bester was probably seeing me too. That's why, as a ruse, I opened and closed your front door. That Psi Corps telepath Miss Winters shot your friend point blank with a heavy stun charge with that servo device. He is unconscious, suffering from neural shock. There is an alien woman doctor with pointed ears tending to him, but Bester came back, saying that his Russian double still had some of his telepathic ability and he wanted it back. He was starting to contact the poor guy and you telepathically when I left Seven's apartment, and I was a little worried that he would try something like this. Are you all right?"

"I guess so. Just a little shaken up." Roberta got up and started for the stove, not knowing that Miss O'Neil had already been there.

"That's understandable. I turned it off for you. Let's go."

Ambassador Delenn had been informed by her human friend, a handsome dark-haired gentleman named Marcus Cole that he was in league with the secret organization on twentieth century Earth, and had learned that Draal had allowed Bester to return to that universe to retrieve his residual telepathic ability from Mr. Chekov. He was also informed that the unfortunate twenty-third century starship captain had been injured by a servo, and was in a bad way. If Bester was going to try and get his ability back in his double's weakened condition, he would quite probably kill him. Marcus also was informed by Delenn that Miss O'Neil had joined the covert group of agents as well, knowing that she was also his friend. They became acquainted with each other when she had first sought haven in the lower recesses of the station, and he was very much in love with her. He decided to help in any way he could, and had Draal contact Mr. Seven, informing him that he was coming.

Pavel raised his hands in a defensive and peaceful gesture, feeling quite sure that Bester was about to do something nasty to him. He could already feel the telepathic probing, and he also realized that he was completely helpless against the overpowering sense that Bester was invading his mind. He had also lied to him about it not going to hurt.

"Hey, pal, I hope I wasn't out of line about that crack about asshole projection."

"No, Mr. Chekov. You were quite right in calling me that. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. However, you should not have let those rogue telepaths into your universe. Also, I can say one thing about your lady friend. She screams well."

Pavel's eyes narrowed.

" I guess no good deed goes unpunished...What did you do to her? If you hurt her, I swear I will see to it you will not get back to Babylon Five alive." He knew it was an empty threat, and so did Bester.

"I did nothing to her, Chekov. She simply awoke from what she thought was a nightmare. Now," he said silkily, "Let's get down to business. I am going to borrow you for a while so I can capture Miss O'Neil and bring her back to the Psi Corps."

"So, that is why you are here. Didn't you know that she is not hu-?"

"Of course I know that, but I don't care. She has been masquerading as one of us for three hundred years, living among us as a human. In my book, that means she is human and has to come back with me."

"What do you mean you want to borrow me?" Chekov asked, suddenly in a panic mode, feeling his mind going. He screamed in agony and terror and everything went black for a moment. When he became aware again, he found himself floating in a dark place. Slowly, where ever it was became illuminated enough to see Bester standing over him. Pavel realized he couldn't move and felt very weak and thought he was about to die. Bester told him that they were now sharing consciousnesses, and that he only borrowed his personality and his Russian accent. Pavel watched helplessly through his counterpart's eyes while Bester conversed slickly with his accent to the people in Seven's apartment.

Dr. Selar stepped back in astonishment, feeling the sudden terror and pain of Chekov's mind scream. She glanced at her tricorder with concern, noticing that his condition had taken a turn for the worse. Whatever had just occurred, it had brought her patient to a critical level. She then looked up from her readings at Bester.

"What have you done?"

"He put me in his mind, Doctor." Bester half lied in Pavel's accent. "I am Pavel Chekov."

At that moment, O'Neil and Lincoln stepped into the room, seeing the concerned and doubtful look on the Vulcan woman's face.

"If that is true, sir, why would he do that?"

"He said that he was working on healing my neural shock from within. He also said that if you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs."

"I do not know about Mr. Seven and the others, Mr. Chekov, but I find that analogy disturbing."

"Here's another way he's putting it. He also told me that if you are going to tune up a car, you have to take some things apart first. Don't worry about me. I will be all right."

Scarlet got the distinct impression that this was not Pavel Chekov, and that the real Chekov was fading fast. She decided to try and contact him telepathically, but she did not succeed. Bester's skills were too powerful to push through.

Pavel, his mind going, had resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die soon. He had one last desperate idea, though. He asked to borrow some of Bester's telepathy and say goodbye in private to Miss Lincoln. At first, Bester would not agree, thinking he was about to trick him in some way, but then, seeing that his Russian double was about to die anyway, relented.

_"Roberta...if you can hear me in your mind...please say yes."_

Roberta's eyed widened in surprise as did Scarlet's. Scarlet, using her telepathic gifts, kept Bester from knowing that she heard poor Chekov as well.

_"Yes, Pavel. I can hear you."_

_"Sweetie, listen carefully...little...yellow...metal box...bonk bonk."_

Scarlet looked puzzled, but Roberta smiled a little, noting that Bester had his back turned to them. She knew exactly what he meant, having told him about when she had hit Mr. Seven in the back of the head with a metal box when she first met Supervisor 194. Without a word, blocking any kind of probe with her worry for her friend,and with help from Scarlet,she swiftly picked up the box and hit Bester hard. Too late, the psi cop knew he should have spent more time watching Garibaldi's cartoons.


	19. Vulcans Never Bluff

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 19

Marcus Cole, a tall handsome man with dark shoulder-length hair and deep blue eyes, had been living on Minbar, having been disillusioned by the way his home planet Earth was being run lately. He had gone to see Dr. Franklin about obtaining sleeper drugs for Bester, knowing that, as usual, the psi cop was up to no good, now adversely affecting the lives of the people in that other universe that Draal had filled him in about. Sleeper drugs were the ones that curtailed telepathic activity, usually given to those who would not join the Psi Corps. He stepped into the interdimensional time portal deep inside Epsilon Three with a determined look on his gentle face. As he stepped out of Seven's safe-like transporter, he was just in time to see a brave young girl crack Bester over the head with something metal as his love Scarlet smiled at him and made herself invisible to fool Bester into thinking she left. In the few minutes that Bester was incapacitated, Pavel got a brief respite from what his double was doing. He was no longer able to understand what Bester was saying to him. Bester was still holding Pavel, trying to extract information about the rogue telepaths wherabouts. He soon realized that the poor Russian had lost his ability to understand speech, and was just about to let him go anyway when he was hit with the box by Miss Lincoln. Cole stepped forward quickly and administered the sleeper drug. He knew it took a few hours to take hold, but he had given him a double dose, enough to curtail Bester's telepathy, once it did take hold, for at least a week. In the meantime, it was imperative that Bester be stopped before he killed his double or anyone else for that matter. Cole looked with wondering admiration at the lovely, slightly trembling young blond girl who had just clobbered a telepathic menace. However, it didn't take long for the psi cop to recover, and in revenge, he glared at the frightened girl. Suddenly, gasping for breath, she realized she was being choked by an unseen force. Isis, in defense of both Roberta and Chekov, leaped at Bester and started to claw at him as ferociously as she could. He seized her, wrung her neck, and threw her with great force across the room. She landed in a corner, not moving.

"Help!" Roberta croaked in horror, trying desperately to stay conscious as she gasped for breath. She had her hands on her neck. She sank to her knees as Selar suddenly whipped out a phaser from her medical bag and aimed it at Bester. Before leaving the Enterprise-D, she knew that this Bester person was using violence against Captain Chekov and possibly others, so she logically deduced that she would need one. She, as a general rule, did not carry firearms, but this was truly a killing situation.

"Stop what you are doing, Mr. Bester, or I will shoot you."

Bester smiled evilly.

"You're bluffing. You wouldn't shoot me."

Seven stepped forward, not daring to use the servo, concerned about harming Pavel further, who was still trapped in Bester's mind.

"Vulcans never bluff, Bester." He said seriously.

"I'm not letting them go. You don't frighten me."

Seeing poor Roberta choking to death and knowing that Pavel wouldn't survive for much longer, the Vulcan doctor made good on her threat. Bester dropped to the floor, heavily stunned and Chekov and Roberta were freed. Roberta was unconscious, but was still breathing. Selar put her weapon away and went to tend to her when she realized that Chekov had returned to his own body, his condition only slightly improved. The doctor, thinking that Bester's behavior was totally illogical, quite irrational, and totally uncalled for, since Pavel could neither help him or hurt him, gave Roberta a tri-ox compound to help her breathe as she went back to her other patient, who was much worse off. Roberta, returning to consciousness quickly, then saw poor Isis, who appeared to be dead.

"_ISIS! _Oh, you poor kitty! What has that creeping crud done to you?" She cradled the still form of her friend on her lap and sobbed.

Scarlet, now realizing that Bester was out of commission, and watching as Cole picked the psi cop up and slung him over his shoulder like an old sack of potatoes, re-appeared and tried without much success to comfort the grieving young woman. She wondered why she was so upset about losing what to her was just a pet cat. Cole stepped into the transporter as Seven told him that if Bester ever stepped back into his universe again, he would be killed. Cole understood completely, but was also puzzled about Roberta's grief over a house cat. Seven told him that she was no ordinary garden variety cat, but a sentient being in cat form, and also his friend. However, he didn't seem nearly as upset at losing Isis as the girl. Cole did not have time to find out why this was so, considering that Bester might awaken from the ray from the alien woman's interesting-looking gun at any moment. He disappeared into Seven's transporter and he and the unconscious Mr. Bester left for the Babylon Five universe after Seven set the coordinates.

Gary knew something about Isis that nobody else in the room did. Isis had a special ability that Roberta hadn't learned about yet. She was of an alien race called the Bast. These aliens, whose favorite form was that of a common Earth feline, had arrived on Earth and settled in ancient Egypt, and later worshipped as deities. The Bast had some very interesting abilities. He knelt beside a still sobbing Roberta and tenderly put his arm around her shoulders.

"Roberta," He said as gently as he could. "It's all right."

She looked at him as if he was insane.

"What do you mean? Isis is dead. That slime ball killed her!"

"It may look like she's dead, Roberta, but she has a special ability you don't know about." He looked down at their lifeless-looking friend, hoping that what he was about to tell her was true. "Isis' cells are able to regenerate themselves after a fatal injury such as this. Her race truly can revive themselves at least nine times before they are at a point of no return."

"You mean that Isis truly has nine lives?" She asked, wiping her tears, only half believing what she was hearing. Seven nodded with a gentle smile, not really knowing how many lives Isis had left.

"Fascinating," Doctor Selar said, still tending to Pavel. "Then the ancient Earth legends about felines possessing magical powers were based on the fact of these creatures arriving on Earth over nine thousand of your years ago." She looked down at Chekov, knowing that he would not survive if he stayed in the twentieth century. "I must bring Captain Chekov with me to the twenty-fourth century. He needs better medical care than what I can provide for him here. Try not to worry. He will recover once I bring him to a Federation star base. I will keep you informed of his progress." With that, the seemingly petite Vulcan female picked up poor Chekov as easily as a human child would pick up a rag doll and stepped with him in her arms to the transporter. Roberta wondered how she managed to pick her friend up like that without so much as a grimace, and she explained to her that her species was much stronger than human beings.

As soon as the Vulcan doctor said that, to Roberta's and Scarlet's astonishment, Isis stirred and meowed weakly and painfully, her bones and body still regenerating.


	20. Isis Regenerates

The Bester of Both Worlds

A quick note: I tweaked the fight scene between Winters and O'Neil to include Scarlet seeing the message in her thoughts that Winters left for Bester when they were in physical contact, fighting for control over the PPG gun, in chapter 15, so this chapter would make more sense. Enjoy!

Chapter 20

As Isis regenerated, Roberta, still holding her gently in her lap, looked on with concern, wincing when she heard her alien friend's neck bones repositioning themselves back into their normal locations, touching her own throat with sympathy and because hers hurt a little from almost being choked to death. She was thankful for the quick-thinking Vulcan doctor. If it hadn't have been for her, she would have been a goner. Seven advised her to do nothing to interfere with Isis' healing process, even though she was sorely tempted. Poor Isis looked and sounded like she was in a great deal of pain. Roberta had a soft spot for animals, and, even if Isis was not a real cat, she was one of God's creatures and to see her like this was very hard. She and Isis had been friends for a little over a month, after Roberta found out that she was sentient. She then thought of another dear friend, and still wiping her tears, she asked Seven if Pavel would be all right. Seven honestly said he didn't know, knowing that his more experienced agent was in pretty bad shape. He guessed that he would be, however, telling her and O'Neil that the twenty-fourth century was far more advanced technologically than theirs. Roberta then asked how Dr. Selar was going to keep them informed of Pavel's condition. Seven smiled and stepped over to the voice-activated typewriter that she had been so freaked out about at their first meeting and flipped a switch on its underside.

"But, Mr. Seven…that's just a voice-activated typewriter!" She said, puzzled.

"It's much more than that, Miss Lincoln. I have just switched it to teletype mode. The moment the good doctor knows anything about Pavel's condition, she will contact us this way."

O'Neil smiled.

"A teletype machine. How quaint. I heard about those things, but never thought I would see one in action."

"The technology has been around in a crude form on this planet for the past thirty years. Of course, this one is electronic and much more sophisticated than current models." Seven informed them softly. "Voice activation wasn't perfected for the typewriter until well into the two thousands, although nobody bought them. Why, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was because of the advent of more advanced personal computers. I, for one, think they are pretty cool."

Isis was finally finished restoring herself. She shifted into human form, her head now the only thing resting on Roberta's lap. She smiled up at her and thanked her for her concern. Seven offered her a hand up off of the floor and she accepted gratefully. It was obvious that she was in pain, and she said it would pass, but she hated it when that happened. She now had five lives left.

O'Neil stepped forward, recalling what she had seen in the evil Talia's mind, relaying the information to Mr. Seven telepathically.

"Mr. Seven," she said aloud, "I must go back and erase all evidence of our existence in that other universe, so Bester doesn't find out about the Guardian of Infinity or us."

Seven paused in thought for a moment, realizing that it would be very dangerous to return to that other dimension, but then recalled her gift of invisibility. He couldn't order anyone to accompany her, but felt that there was safety in numbers. Winters might still be on the space station, possibly even recording another message to Bester if she wasn't in a brig somewhere for her assault on Chekov. To everyone's astonishment, Isis volunteered to go with her.

"Isis, wouldn't it be better if you stayed here to recover for a while? After all, Bester killed you. He might try again."

"That is unlikely, Mr. Seven." Roberta said intelligently, getting up from the floor herself. "He was stunned by an energy weapon of some sort, wasn't he? He should be three sheets to the wind for at least an hour."

"Yes, of course, Miss Lincoln. Isis…are you sure you want to do this?"

Isis nodded in the affirmative, wincing at the still prevalent pain in her neck. She had morphed into human form to get the remaining kinks out by massaging the area, something she couldn't do in cat form. Seven went to the computer, pressed a couple of buttons on the keyboard, and watched as the round wall hanging revealed the viewing screen again. He had just established a direct connection with the being known as Draal, although this time, another being answered, and one he hadn't seen in a long time and had almost forgotten. The alien smiled at him with recognition.

"Ah, Seven…Zathros remembers you."

"Zathros, where is Draal?"

"Draal busy at the moment…much to do for him. He left Zathros in charge of communications. To what does Zathros owe the honor of this call?"

Roberta liked the strange-looking alien man immediately, even though she wondered why he talked about himself in third person. He reminded her of the hunchback of Notre Dame, and he was wearing what appeared to be the carcass of a huge spider, some of its furry legs visible, draped over his shoulders.

"Two of my agents have to return to your universe to make sure Bester never finds out about the new Guardian or us. It seems that Miss Winters left a message for Bester about us and the Guardian of Infinity on his com link in his quarters before he came here and almost killed his double. We must do it soon before that Denebian slime devil regains consciousness."

The alien grinned.

"Ah, I see. Zathros understands. You may return if you wish. Zathros will let Captain Sheridan know you are coming and why. Who will be returning? Zathros has a crush on that lovely little chick Miss O'Neil. Please tell Zathros it is she who is returning."

O'Neil blushed a little, but smiled. She stepped forward so Zathros could see her on the viewing screen.

"Isis, Mr. Seven's shape shifter assistant, and I will be coming back immediately to erase the evidence of our existence and to keep Bester from finding out about your Guardian portal. I'm afraid I will have to be invisible when I'm there. There's no telling how long Bester will be incapacitated."

Dr. Selar seemed to Dr. Crusher to appear out of nowhere, carrying poor Captain Chekov, who looked to be close to death. Dr. Selar, without an explanation as to how she arrived in the Enterprise-D sickbay, quickly put Pavel on a diagnostic bed and hooked him to full life support. After being satisfied that his condition was stabilized, she then turned to her superior. Crusher could tell by his overhead readings that he was suffering from serious brain damage, and it appeared that whatever had happened to him had caused him to suffer a stroke. Beverly now knew why the twenty-third century starship captain had been brought to this century, recalling where Selar had gone. There was virtually no hope in the twentieth century for a brain damaged patient. At least in their time, he had a chance for a full recovery. Crusher watched as Selar put the curved device back on Pavel's forehead and pushed the button to restart the healing process. Selar had temporarily removed it when she picked Pavel up and stepped into Seven's transporter, so it would not be damaged if it should happen to fall off. Crusher nodded to Selar with acknowledgment, and pressed her communicator, announcing the arrival of their new seriously injured patient to Captain Picard. The captain suggested that their famous patient should be transferred to the nearest Federation star base, being that there was only so much that they could do for him on a starship. Also, he did not want to attract any undue or unwelcome attention to the fact that their new patient was a man from the Five Year Mission days. He suggested Star base 515, the same star base where he had received a new artificial heart to repair one that had malfunctioned. That star base was now run by Dr. Kate Pulaski. Picard did have confidence in his medical staff's ability to care for their new arrival, but that particular star base was the most advanced in the Federation, and he wanted Pavel to have the best chance at a full recovery. Crusher and Selar agreed. They equipped a shuttlecraft named the Armstrong for the short journey to the star base.


	21. Roberta Wants Revenge

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapt.21

Roberta seemed to want to accompany Scarlet and Isis in their mission to erase the evidence of their and the newly discovered Guardian's existence, but Seven did not feel she was ready for such a dangerous job. He had noticed that she had developed a modicum of courage, being very proud of her for cracking Bester over the head with the same box she had used on him at their first meeting. He smiled a little; thinking that it was better that she did it to Bester this time and not to him. He thought of the gun that Winters had pulled on O'Neil, and handed it back to Scarlet, telling her that it had been drained of its power and to take it back with her. There was no use in keeping it, being that he and his organization had much more sophisticated armaments at their disposal. He thought of giving O'Neil a servo, but knew that she was also new at this, and it would take too long to train her on its use, even though she was a telepath. Also, if something went wrong, he didn't want the servo to fall into the wrong hands. The temporal Prime Directive was very specific about not having more sophisticated technology introduced into other universes, where it could be used to everyone's detriment. Seven still had the controls set for that other universe, and the two alien women stepped into the safe-like enclosure and dissolved into the blue transporter mist. Seven also knew that Roberta had no special ability like the others, and he didn't want her to get hurt. It was true that Bester would be out from Selar's phaser stun for quite some time, Seven noticing that it was a type two phaser the good doctor was carrying. That kind of weapon packed quite a punch, but Bester might have cronies on board that space station. She seemed a little too eager to go with them, and he sensed that there was more at work in her mind. She obviously wanted to strike back at the man who hurt Isis and Pavel, but to let her go with them would be foolhardy. He had also not forgotten about the non-corporeal alien known as Jack the Ripper, who could still be lurking about there. New tears started to form in her eyes, but they were not because she was disappointed in not being able to go with them.

"Roberta, to go with them would be suicide. You know that."

Her lips started to quiver and a tear fell.

"You saw what that monster did to Pavel." She started to cry again. "Oh, Gary, I love him so much! I don't want him to die."

"I know. I don't want him to as well, but I don't want you to, either. Stay here. There will be other missions." He saw that she could use that hug that she had refused from McCoy. She wept into his chest and he held her close. He took out his handkerchief from his left shirt pocket and gave it to her. "There there, honey. He's going to be all right."

"How can you be so sure?"

"There is something I haven't told you. I didn't tell the whole truth to Captain Kirk. I was born in the late twentieth century, but I'm not really from this era. I'm from forty two years in the future. I have known Pavel all that time. He is one of my best friends and a good agent. You have only known him for a short time…as a young starship navigator and as a senior citizen. I have known him for much longer than that, in those years between. He has a strong instinct for survival, and he will be all right. Please believe me, Roberta." He wiped her eyes and he knew that she did not completely comprehend or believe what she had just been told. "Now, dear, dry those tears. If they return from their mission and see you crying, they will think that he died. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

She shook her head "no", and he released her. She thanked him for the hug and tears of worry formed in his own eyes, but he did not let them fall.

When Isis and Scarlet materialized onto Babylon Five, they were met by Commander Ivanova and Security Chief Garibaldi. They found themselves at the entrance to the receiving area of the station, the area that led to the place the locals called the zokolo. It was a local marketplace, where people could also grab a bite to eat and hang out with friends when they were off duty or just visiting the station. It was fortunate that at present, they were unobserved materializing onto the station, except for the two officers. They, having been informed by Marcus Cole about Bester's activities in the other reality, knew that they did not have an unlimited amount of time until Bester recovered from the phaser stun. They were astonished to find out that Bester had not really killed Isis, but they were very concerned about poor Pavel, especially Ivanova. O'Neil did not wish to worry them too much, so she told them that she thought he would be all right, although the commander detected some uncertainty in her voice. They watched with astonishment and fascination as Isis morphed back into cat form, seating herself next to Scarlet's feet. Scarlet was still visible for now, and was eager to get started, knowing what she should do to erase Winters' message, having taught herself about this universe's technology by reading the minds of local technicians, but first, she asked where Bester was, hoping that they wouldn't say he was in his quarters. Garibaldi smiled and told her that he was still under the effects of the stun from the alien lady doctor's energy weapon and was in the med lab. The two were relieved to hear that, and Commander Ivanova told them that erasing the evidence of their ever being on the station was a good idea, and also she knew that more human telepaths had arrived on the station, fleeing the Psi Corps, having been told by their relatives about the new escape route. There was only one problem with that: who was going to ferry them down to Epsilon Three? The Commander could not do it, and neither could Dr. Franklin, who had previously headed the Underground Railroad for rogue telepaths. He was still on some sort of personal journey called a walkabout, having become addicted to stimulants he had been taking to keep himself alert while doing his rounds as the station's chief medic. It was then that Scarlet's Dowd father appeared in his shining non-corporeal form and announced that he would do it, knowing that his half-Betazoid daughter had a job to do, not only in this universe but in Seven's. They accepted his offer gratefully, another problem solved, much to their relief. Ivanova also knew that she or anyone else on the station could not keep this new escape method a secret forever. However, it was a terribly good idea to keep Bester from finding out about his counterpart and the other universe. The Guardian of Infinity had done its best to wipe Bester's memory of it and that other universe. They all knew as well that in the week that he would not have his telepathic ability because of the sleeper drug, they would have to be quick about helping the rogues escape to the inner recesses of the planet they were orbiting.

Mrs. Dinah Bester held the hand of her five-year old daughter's securely as they stepped off the shuttle into the hangar deck of space station Babylon Five. For some reason, her little girl wanted to see what her mostly absent father did for a living. They also knew that he was presently unconscious in the med lab, having been stunned by some sort of energy weapon. Being that Dinah and her daughter were Bester's only known kin, they had been informed of this development. Dinah had been forcibly married to that rotten husband of hers by the Psi Corps. When they first met, she was revolted by his twisted and perverted thoughts. Because she happened to be reasonably attractive, he wanted to force himself on her to produce a baby instead of going the usual route of artificial insemination. Since her telepathic abilities equaled his own, she told him that if he tried that, she would kill him. He knew right then and there that she loathed him. He had no real love for her, either, only lust, so he agreed to do it the usual way. When little Alice was born, he took off for the Psi Corps headquarters on Mars, leaving her to raise the child practically alone. Of course, Dinah tried to keep all this information from her gifted child, but little Alice was a very bright little girl, and had figured out for herself that her father was a meanie, and both mother and daughter were terribly glad that he would be out of commission for a while.

As the two stepped into the receiving area, O'Neil and Isis were still there, only O'Neil had made herself invisible. Little Alice loved kitty cats, and was instantly drawn to Isis, but, for now, was restrained by her mother, who told her telepathically that touching animals she knew nothing about could be dangerous.


	22. Isis Runs From Little Miss Bester

The Bester of Both Worlds, chap 22

Commander Ivanova was just about to introduce the two new arrivals, forgetting that both were also telepaths. Scarlet, still invisible, seeing the Psi Corps badge on the woman named Dinah's coat lapel, immediately stepped in front of Isis, forming an invisible force field. Isis sensed that she was nearby, but was still worried that little Alice might be as mean as her father. She didn't want to again become a late Bast, so she decided to run away. The little girl pursued, sensing fear from her, and also being intrigued that this kitty cat was different from all the others she had probed with her developing telepathic skills. Her father didn't like cats, so Alice was not allowed to have one as a pet. Dinah gave her one once in defiance of his wishes, and he took an old sack, put the male tabby in it, and drowned it in Alice's kiddy pool in the back yard. Alice was way too young to understand what he had done, but Dinah hated him even more after that.

Sensing this memory, Scarlet called out to Isis and told her that these two would not harm her. Isis was too far away, the little girl still hot on her trail, both moving quickly down the long corridor that led away from the receiving area. They soon disappeared around a corner, Isis still too frightened to perceive that this little girl, despite being a Bester, meant her no harm. She saw an open elevator door and darted into it. The door, to her relief, closed before the child arrived. Alice stood there and stared at the closed elevator door as her mother, a little winded, caught up with her.

"Alice Lucretia Bester! Shame on you, frightening that poor animal!"

Ivanova, Garibaldi and O'Neil had all followed the woman down the corridor, all three wondering who had thought of Alice's middle name. It sounded like the kind of name the fictional Addams family might give one of their offspring. After Mrs. Bester caught her breath, she smiled a little and explained that her middle name was given to her by her father, of course. At first, Dinah thought it was pretty, until she found out that it was also the name of a notorious murderer from the Dark Ages. Being that she was a little frightened of her Psi Corps husband and not wanting to anger him, she decided to let him have his way.

"But, Mommy! That kitty talked in my mind! I think she said a bad word."

Isis decided it was best to morph into human form for now, and stepped out of the elevator after figuring out how the door operated. She knew that if Bester recovered before their mission was completed, he would recognize her in either form. It was a risk she had to take. She felt she would be safer appearing as a human rather than as a cat. She calmly stepped out of the elevator, seeing that her hosts were still there. She also saw that Scarlet was nearby, and that she had made herself visible in order not to startle the little girl.

"No, Miss Bester." Scarlet addressed the child politely. "Bast is the name of her race. She is an intelligent being and a shape shifter. Her name is Isis."

It had been a few days since Dr. Selar had carried poor stricken Pavel into the time/dimensional transporter. They were both very worried about him and concerned that the doctor still had not sent word about his condition. Roberta wondered if she had forgotten, but Gary told her that Vulcans did not forget anything. He considered that there might be something wrong with his machine, but thought that that was preposterous, being that he had done maintenance on it at the same time the transporter was being worked on. Roberta decided to investigate the typewriter herself, and, puzzled, she asked Mr. Seven what "Fax" meant. Frowning, Seven examined the settings himself, and realized that he had made a mistake, setting the machine for Fax and not for Teletype. He had to explain to her that a fax was like getting a letter the instant someone wrote it, and that this feature was not used in the twenty-fourth century. Being that the device was manufactured in the twenty-first century, this fax feature allowed Seven to communicate with people from that era. It was no wonder he wasn't getting any messages from Selar. They both thought that it was astounding that the teletype was still being used centuries into the future, but the fax machine had gone the way of the dodo. A little embarrassed about this blunder, and concerned as to how the good Vulcan lady doctor might perceive this, he decided it was best to contact Starfleet Temporal Medical directly to inquire about Pavel's condition. The face of the much older Roberta appeared again on the viewing screen, and this time the younger Roberta recognized herself. She thought that that was freaky, but refrained from commenting, still too worried about Captain Chekov. After finding out that Pavel had at last regained consciousness, but was suffering from hopefully temporary amnesia, she asked her much older self if it would be all right to visit him. Her older self told her that that would be fine, but not to stay too long. Someone else was also at his bedside when he awakened, a very worried old friend named Montgomery Scott. Chekov's mind was still on the mend, the device on his forehead still repairing his damaged synapses. Doctor Selar seemed to be quite understanding about Seven's mistake at setting the voice activated typewriter incorrectly, and had considered that not being able to contact him was due to human error. She also explained how Captain Scott managed to be in the twenty-fourth century, having been shipwrecked on a Dyson Sphere, putting himself in suspended animation via the undamaged transporter. Mr. Seven, of course, recognized the name, and remembered the man, who still preferred to call himself Scotty.

Alfred Bester was not completely evil. When he began to probe more deeply into his victim's mind, he discovered with astonishment and amazement that Pavel Chekov, whom he thought was just a mundane (a normal human being without any special telepathic ability), had somehow recently managed to acquire more telepathic ability than what Bester had expected to find, but he did not know how he had acquired it. He estimated that his friendly Russian counterpart was now about a P-6 on the Psi Corps esper scale. No wonder it had hurt him when he tried to steal part of his personality and his accent. He had almost pulled apart the poor man's mind needlessly in his attempt to discover the exact whereabouts of the rogue telepaths that his hapless doppelganger had rescued from his clutches. Bester did not recall gleaning any information from the unfortunate former mundane. His mind had been injured far too much at that point and Bester realized he had gone too far. He had been honest about not wanting to harm Chekov, but he did. For the first time in his life, Bester felt a little twinge of remorse. As he came to consciousness in the med lab, he had retained fragmentary knowledge about Chekov and that other universe, but the memory of what had happened to land him back on Babylon Five and in the med lab had faded fast. He peered at his Psi Corps wife in puzzlement as she began to scold him about having almost killed his double in the other universe. As he sat up, dizzy and disoriented, tingling all over from the effects of the phaser stun, the only thing that stuck in his mind now was the phrase "Vulcans never bluff." It sounded oddly familiar, but he did not know why.


	23. Pavel at the Starbase Hospital

The Bester of Both Worlds, chapter 23

There was another deeper reason why little Alice had accompanied her mother to the space station. She had been told that, basically, her father killed people for a living and cared for nobody but himself. The little girl didn't fully believe that, and wanted to see for herself. She was a little disappointed when she had to wait in another room with Commander Ivanova, who she had just met and hardly knew. She also hardly knew her father. She read the contempt Susan had for him and the Psi Corps in general in the commander's thoughts, and how the Psi Corps had contributed to the woman's mother's suicide. Susan's mother had been a telepath, forced to take powerful drugs to curtail her telepathic ability just because she did not want to join the Corps. Also, Alice heard her own mother in the next room where her father was, scolding him about hurting someone who looked exactly like him, saying angrily that he was setting a fine example for his daughter. She then thought that maybe her mother was right. Little Alice had also wanted to find out how a kitty cat could turn into a beautiful lady, and was also intrigued by the lady who could make herself invisible. Her mother told her that they were here for a reason, and not to bother them.

Dinah knew who Scarlet was and also knew that, as a psi cop, she had an obligation to arrest her and take her back to the Corps. She did not realize that Miss O'Neil was not human. However, she did not want to arrest her, at least not right now. The two had to first erase all evidence of their existence from her husband's quarters. She knew the creature called Isis was from a parallel universe, and that Alfred had fatally injured her because she dared to attack him in defense of his double and some young girl named Roberta. She knew of Isis' race, for they existed in this universe as well. They had made themselves known on Earth when the human race had been given jump gate artificial wormhole technology by the Centauri. She knew also that for millennia, these amazing creatures had been living on Earth in secret as common house cats, and that they had the ability to regenerate nine times after suffering fatal injuries. After leaving her husband in name only in the med lab, she smiled a little, recalling an ancient movie she saw about a cat from outer space. Perhaps, at a subconscious level, her ancestors were aware of the Basts, but had consciously considered the idea of intelligent felines to be just a little too far-fetched.

Scarlet's father knew that Bester's wife was not yet aware that his daughter was not human, but he had bigger fish to fry. He had secretly slipped briefly into the parallel universe and had given Miss Winter's ability to Chekov, with help from Zathros. He felt that Pavel deserved some form of compensation for his suffering he had endured at the hands of the evil Mr. Bester. Of course, Chekov was not told that he had the telepathic gift, for to inform him prematurely would tip Bester off, even though the psi cop found out anyway when he linked with his double's mind. Scarlet's father was now considering how he was going to ferry the new rogue telepaths who were arriving on the station down to the planet Epsilon Three without Bester finding out. It was then he came up with the idea to impersonate Ambassador Kosh of the Vorlons. It would be a perfect cover, for nobody dared to mess with these powerful beings, and nobody would guess that it was he in the encounter suit instead of Kosh. He would, of course, have to keep the ambassador from finding out about his deception, but, then again, imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. He just hoped the Vorlon thought that too.

Isis and O'Neil were successful at removing all the evidence of their, the Guardian of Infinity, and the other universe's existence from Bester's com link, and decided it was a good idea to return to Seven's universe as soon as possible. Scarlet knew that Bester's wife was under an obligation to arrest her if she could, so it was imperative that she make herself scarce so the woman would not get the chance. When they arrived back at Seven's apartment, they found that he had left a brief note on his com link over the brown leather couch, informing them that Roberta and he had left to visit Mr. Chekov in the distant future and would return in a few hours.

After Scotty had been at Pavel's bedside for a couple of hours, deeply concerned about his friend, whom he had been told had a nasty run-in with a double from another universe and almost died as a result, the Russian finally had recovered enough to recognize him. However, he had no idea where he was or how he got there. He still had the bruise from when the Guardian of Forever had toppled over, and Scotty thought at first that the double had inflicted it on him. He was soon informed by the lady doctor attending to him that it was from an earlier injury. However, being that he was still recovering from his brain injuries, the Russian only spoke in his native language, and Scotty had never bothered to learn it. Being that the doctor didn't either, she could not explain to him at the moment where he was or how he got there. She knew that that was a common question a patient asked when coming out of a coma. Scotty thought that the lady doctor looked like someone he once was acquainted with many years ago, another lady doctor named Ann Mulhaul. The resemblance was quite uncanny.

" _Eto nevozmozhno!" _ Chekov said softly with a painful moan, thinking he was dreaming. Scotty saw Dr. Pulaski nearby, hoping that she could translate what Pavel just said.

"Well, it's about time." The doctor said, quickly glancing at the overhead readings. Pavel was recovering, but it would take him some time to recover fully. For some strange reason that she could not fathom, she understood what he said. She had never spoken Russian in her life, nor had she learned the language. It puzzled her that she could translate for Captain Scott.

"What did he say, Doctor?"

"He said that your appearance was highly unlikely." She paused to adjust the device that was still on his forehead, healing his damaged synapses and the ruptured blood vessel that resulted in his stroke. "Don't ask me how I knew that." There was a voice from behind them, and both turned to look who had spoken. Scotty's jaw dropped in astonishment. Pulaski knew that they were coming, but did not expect the other captain's reaction. It was Mr. Seven and Miss Lincoln. _"Talk about highly unlikely!"_ Scotty thought as Seven informed them that Pavel now had telepathic ability.


	24. Scarlet's Father Impersonates Kosh

The Bester of Both Worlds, chap 24

Epilogue

As Pavel slowly recovered from his brush with death, he looked with increasing awareness and recognition at Dr. Pulaski, thinking at first that she looked remarkably like another lady he once knew named Miranda Jones. It was ironic that he thought of her again, being that he now had similar telepathic abilities. When he could speak English again, he wondered how he had acquired them and then after finding out became a little fearful that Bester might come looking for him and try something else nasty. He discovered that his fears, although quite understandable, were pretty groundless. After Scott had gotten over his initial shock of seeing Mr. Seven again after almost a century and remarking that he hadn't aged a day, Seven informed him that he used his time transporter to get here and that Bester's memories of Pavel, whom Scotty learned had become one of their top agents, and their universe had been wiped and the evil psi cop no longer had any real knowledge of him or his whereabouts. Scott knew that the statute of limitations concerning disclosure of Pavel's affiliation with Mr. Seven had run out by this time, and since both of them were retired anyway, it really didn't matter. Also, since both Dr. Selar and Dr. Pulaski knew of the secret MIB organization and of Chekov's involvement, it was perfectly safe to discuss it when they were present. However, when lower ranking officers were in the room, they were still required to not discuss it. Supervisor 194 also informed Chekov that if Bester ever showed up on their doorstep again, he would be shot on sight. He saw tears in Roberta's eyes, but now they were tears of joy. Pavel, with his new ability, read in her thoughts, however, that she was ashamed at being so cowardly when the nasty psi cop had appeared in their shared telepathic vision. Pavel understood why she had reacted the way she did, but she told him that she could not forgive herself for leaving him at the hands of that horrible madman. He told her that he had forgiven her and not to worry about it. It was also nice to see Scotty again, and he found it incredible how the engineer had put himself in suspended animation via the crashed Jenolin's transporter.

The sixty-seven year old version of Roberta Lincoln stared at her much younger self through Seven's com link lovingly, knowing now that it was finally the time at last for her to make things right for dear old Pavel Chekov. Even after almost fifty years, she still had not quite forgiven herself for leaving him with Alfred Bester. Now she realized it was time to make things right, and she had obtained permission from the temporal authorities to do so a long time ago. She knew that in the original history, poor Pavel had died, and she had always felt that it was her fault. She could not let that happen again, so she contacted a twenty-fourth century doctor to make sure he recovered from his injuries. She now felt happy that she would be enjoying him for years following that incident, and she still loved him.

Scarlet's Dowd father found it quite easy to impersonate the powerful Vorlon, Ambassador Kosh. Since nobody could see what was inside the protective suit he wore, he was quite safe in pretending to be him. He had been observing the Vorlons for a long time and also made an exact duplicate of one of their ships with his mind. He knew that the Vorlons breathed a poisonous atmosphere, so nobody was going to ask him to remove the suit. He had learned recently that Kosh had died under mysterious circumstances, and another Vorlon was being dispatched to replace him. He had to act fast before the other arrived. He boarded a freighter bound for Earth and stayed on it long enough to go through the nearest jump gate, and then manufactured a fake Vorlon ship with his mind, donned an exact duplicate of an encounter suit, and went back through the gate. The station's security personnel were expecting the new Vorlon ambassador, so when he arrived back on the station, he was greeted by Commander Ivanova and Security Chief Garibaldi. They had to pretend the new ambassador was the real Kosh, since news of the real Vorlon's death had to be kept secret for now. They asked him what he should be called when he was with them in private. Not knowing what else to say, he said "Kosh". Ivanova commented that he was a Vorlon all right. The Dowd was amazed that they bought the horse hockey when he said that all Vorlons were named Kosh.

As for little Alice, she did not completely understand the thoughts of the grownups around her, or why her father did not love her or her mother, but was thankful that she had at least one parent who loved her, at least for another year. She read in her mother's mind that she would be taken away when she turned six by the Psi Corps for training to help her continue to develop her telepathic powers. There was an old saying that she heard many times in the five years she had been alive: "The Corps is Mother. The Corps is Father." She did not like that notion, nor did she completely understand it. She knew, though, that it was best to stay away from her father as much as he stayed away from her.

THE END? Not quite. Stay tuned for the sequel as soon as at least one of you many readers leaves a review.


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